Obituary of Edgar Smith

Edgar Walton Smith was born December 27, 1919 to Bertrand Guy and Eunice Oliva Smith in Onaga, Kansas. He was the middle of 5 children. He attended school in Onaga and graduated from Onaga Rural High School in 1937. While he was a senior in high school, Eddie worked for the Onaga Herald as a printer’s devil where he began to learn the newspaper trade. He stayed there until he joined the Navy in 1942. He served 44 months in the Navy with 27 months of that time in the south Pacific on a minesweeper. After the Navy, Eddie returned home where he worked for 2 years at the Onaga Herald before moving to Limon in 1947 to take a job as the linotype operator at The Limon Leader. In Limon he met the love of his life, and on November 27, 1949, Eddie Smith and Phyllis Janette Smiley were united in marriage. To this union was born 4 daughters – Lynette, Lori, Vicki and Denise. Eddie continued working as a newspaper man for 37 more years, also performing many jobs as a commercial printer when he was in charge of the job shop. After retiring from The Limon Leader in 1984 he began working part-time at Rip Griffin’s Truck Center. Eddie’s favorite past-time was gardening. He earned quite a reputation in the Limon community for his gardens. He was always giving away cucumbers, ears of corn, asparagus, and most famously (to the delight of his children and grandchildren) his jars of homemade strawberry jam, which he made from his home-grown strawberries. Eddie was still gardening last summer at the ripe old age of 92! Eddie was devoted to his family who all adored him. He and Phyllis were blessed with 9 grandchildren, and at the time of his death, Eddie had 11 great-grandchildren. Eddie passed away peacefully on Monday, May 6, 2013 at the age of 93. He is survived by 3 of his daughters: Lynette Smith McBride (John) of Canon City; Lori Smith of Limon; Denise Smith Kelly (Mike) of Limon. Grandchildren: Heather McBride Ainsworth (Josh) of Thieusies, Belgium; Ryan McBride (Elise) of Canon City; Keri Gieck Smith (Matt) of Ramah, Brandon Richie (Gwen) of Lochbuie; Shane Richie (Alexandra) of Sterling; Courtney Richie Knudsen (Lonnie) of Otis; Ashley West of North Carolina; Tiffani Kelly of Fort Collins; and David Kelly of Fort Collins. Great-grandchildren: Lucas, Ethan, Logan and Colten Ainsworth of Thieusies, Belgium; Noah, Eli, and McKinley Elise McBride of Canon City; Lyla Richie of Lochbuie; Emmit Richie of Sterling; Aiden and Natalie Jo Knudsen of Otis. Siblings: 1 sister, Hazel Richards of Hardinsburg, Kentucky; 1 sister-in-law, Charlotte Smith of Kansas. Eddie is preceded in death by his parents, Bertrand and Eunice Smith; wife of 51 years, Phyllis Smith; daughter Vicki Smith Vitt; sister Gail Falk (Bill) of Onaga, Kansas; sister Betty Eisenbarth (Ralph) of Onaga, Kansas; brother Robert Smith of Kansas; brother-in-law Hal Richards of Bardstown, Kentucky.