Dorothy Ilean Smith

Dorothy Ilean (Hale) Smith was born on September 26, 1934 in Wright county Missouri, near Mansfield and passed from this earth on March 6, 2024 at home in Claremore, OK surrounded by her family.  She attended school in Mansfield, MO and graduated high school in 1952 where she was VP of her senior class.  She was the only one of her siblings to graduate from high school.  When she was in her early 20’s she moved to Oklahoma City with 3 other girls she knew and found a job at Western Electric.  In the Summer of 1962 she met James (Jim) Smith at a party she and the other girls were attending, and it was love at first sight.   They were married on November 10^th 1962 at the Shields Avenue Baptist church in Oklahoma City.  They both had a love of traveling and shared it throughout their married life.  They traveled though out the US, Canada, drove to Alaska and back.  Went to Germany and Austria twice, London and Paris.   Their last  big trip was to Australia and New Zealand.  

Dorothy loved to crochet and knit.  She made many collars, table clothes, afghans and bedspreads.  She loved the color pink and collected many angel figurines.  In the 1970’s she was an avid bowler and played on a league in Claremore.  

She is preceded in death by her parents, Floyd and Frankie Hale, Brother, Lawrence Hale, Sister, Sybil Young, and brother, Harvey Hale.  She had a favorite cousin, Dr. John Sykes who was a professor at Columbia University and favorite nieces, Sarah Conner of Bixby, OK and Judy Harris of Clinton, MO and several other nieces and nephews in Missouri and Colorado.   Dororthy had been a long-time member of Sageeyah Baptist Church and at one time took care of the nursery.  She retired from Ford Glass Plant in Broken Arrow, OK after 11 years.  She is survived by her husband of 62 years, James D. Smith of Claremore, Daughter and Son in Law, Angela and Weydan Flax, of Tulsa, and 2 step grandsons, Isaiah Flax of Utah, and Zeke Flax of New York.  

Services will be at MMS Payne Funeral home in Claremore on Saturday, March 16^th 10am  with visitation on Friday, March 15^th, 1pm 7pm with the family being available 4-7pm.  Final resting place at Woodlawn Cemetery in Claremore, Oklahoma.   In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to Transitions Life Care, hospice care services, address:  6310 E 102nd St, Tulsa, OK 74137.  Or donate to the Alzheimer’s Association.