Obituary of Margaret Smith

Margaret (Margie) Smith, a longtime resident of Burlington, Colorado, died Sunday the 25th of November at Grace Manor Care Center of natural causes. Margie was born on December 20, 1926 outside of Holly, Colorado at the Model Dairy to Mathew and Laura (DeBus) Leonard where she grew up and went to school. Growing up, she and her sister, Dorothy Seufer, drove separate teams of horses raking hay for the dairy and hauling sugar beets to the local factory. She worked at the Holly Lumber Co. during the summers for Scotty Duncan who couldn’t praise her enough for her work ethic. The family moved to Littleton, Colorado around 1942 where Margie and Dorothy worked at the Heckethorn Manufacturing Company for approximately three years during the war. The company was originally a hardware supply manufacture and converted to an ammunitions plant for the Navy where it produced approximately 50 million projectiles. Margie moved back to Holly where she met and married Robert E. Smith, on October 24, 1948 in Holly. They moved onto the Pawnee Valley Ranch north of Kalvesta, Kansas where Bob continued working for Leonard Byler. Margie (Mom) started raising a family and cooked daily for the 5-6 men ranch crew. Barbara, Bobby, Pam, Karla and Alan were born at the hospital in Dodge City. Margie and Bob were active in the Cimmarron Roping Club where Margie ran the barrels. She once loaned her white barrel horse to Tex Ritter to ride in the parade and got to dance with him. Margie loved to dance, and she and Bob took the kids to many barn dances. She loved playing cards with the neighbors which was an important community activity which brought the far flung neighbors together. She moved with the family to Holly where Bob worked for Everett Willhite and Margie again worked for Scotty Duncan at the lumber yard for about four years. The family moved to Lamar in 1962 where Margie worked at a music store and Prowers County Clerk & Recorder office until 1968 when they moved to Burlington. Margie became a mother of six kids when Jana was born in Lamar in 1963. Shortly after moving to Burlington in 1968 , Margie went to work at the Bank of Burlington where she worked for 23 years. Margie’s favorite job, whether at the counter or the drive-up, was working with people. Margie was definitely a “people” person who always had a smile. Margie always worked somewhere while doing a great job raising six kids. Her work ethic was always a great example. She is survived by her sisters Dorothy Seufer from Holly and Kay Gerlits (Frank) from Denver, daughters Barbara Hitchcock (Duane) and Jana Carlin (Greg) from Burlington, Pam Ochs from Derby, Kansas, Karla Shriver from Monte Vista, Colorado and sons Bob (Alane) from Colorado Springs and Alan (Jackie) from Wichita, Kansas. She has been blessed with twelve Grandchildren and eleven Great Grandchildren. She has many nieces, nephews, and friends. Preceding her in death were her parents, her husband, sisters Helen (Bobbie) and Millie, brother Eddie, and son-in-law Doug Shriver. She will be missed by family and friends near and far.