Laura Bentley Smith

SERVICES: Services will be 2:00 PM Tuesday at the First Baptist Church with Rev. Darrell Burton, chaplain of Odyssey Healthcare of Clarendon, officiating.BURIAL: Burial will be in Memory Gardens Cemetery under the direction of Carmichael-Whatley Funeral Directors.BIOGRAPHY: Mrs. Smith was born to Henry Lee Bentley and Alice Lucretia Downing Bentley on February 14, 1913, in Rockwood, Coleman County, Texas. She was the eleventh of twelve children. Mrs. Smith attended Rockwood School for some years and finished high school in 1930 in Doole, Texas. Of her Christian testimony, Mrs. Smith stated: "The greatest thing I had ever experienced was when I made a public profession of my faith in Jesus Christ there at Doole. As a result of my decision, there were others at home who became Christians...Six of us were baptized in the Colorado River and became members of that small Baptist church." Mrs. Smith attended Howard Payne College and earned a teaching certificate. She taught school at Starkweather and Mozelle in Coleman County for a few years before returning to Howard Payne where she met Marion Burleson Smith. They married on November 27, 1936. The Smith family moved to the Texas Panhandle in 1948. Brother M. B. Smith had been pastoring Baptist churches for several years by then. He pastored First Baptist in Wheeler, and then on to Pampa where he pastored Highland Baptist for a time and served as supply and interim in many area churches, as well as teaching sciences at Pampa High School and Clarendon College. Mrs. Smith served beside her husband and touched the lives of many women who were members of her Sunday School classes. She had been a resident of Pampa for fifty-three years and a member of First Baptist Church in Pampa for many years. Mrs. Smith was preceded in death by her husband, Rev. M. B. Smith: eleven brothers and sisters; a granddaughter, Joanie Lee Brogdon; and a son-in-law, Harold Lloyd Lee.SURVIVORS: by all five of her children: Mrs. Sylvia Shuler and husband Leo, of Wheeler, Mrs. Marilyn Whitaker and husband Rex, of Waco, Philip N. Smith and wife Jane of Sulphur Springs, David L. Smith and Connie Jones of Austin, and Herbert L. Smith and wife Lynn of Pampa. 15 grandchildren: Lucretia Davis and Mike Lee of Wheeler; Melanie Gates of Weatherford, OK.; Lori Barnes of Stephenville and Brent Lee of Killeen; Lisa Osborne of Round Rock; Mark Whitaker of Temple and Kristi Mouse of Rockwall; Jennifer Scogin of Rogers, AR; Emily Stephen of Dayton, OH; Nathan Smith of Irving; Courtney Marrs of Borger, YuMei Jones of Austin; Jonathan H. Smith and Jared L. Smith of Pampa; 29 great grandchildren and 5 great great grandchildren.MEMORIALS: The Sonshine Club c/o First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 621, Pampa, Texas 79066.