Edna Lou Smith

Edna Lou Smith, 83, of Pampa, passed away on Sunday, June 4, 2023 in Amarillo. 

Memorial services will be 2:00 PM Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at Briarwood Church with Pastor Jamisen Hancock, pastor, and Rev. Scott Futrell, minister at Kentucky Avenue Church of Christ, officiating.  Cremation and arrangements are under the direction of Carmichael-Whatley Funeral Directors and Crematory.

Edna was born July 21, 1939 in Shattuck, Oklahoma to Lonnie and Lindora Goodner. She attended Borger High School, transferred and then graduated from Southwestern Bible Institute. She continued her education at Southwestern Assemblies of God College in Waxahachie. She married the love of her life, Gary Jan Smith, on September 30, 1956. After he was honorably discharged from the Navy, they returned to Pampa and started their family. Edna worked various jobs in her life, but she was primarily a stay-at-home mom taking care of their four daughters. Gary Jan, Edna, and the girls, known as the Smith Family Singers, traveled all over the United States sharing the word of God in song. Edna was an accomplished seamstress; at one point when her four girls were in the high school presentation “The Sound of Music”, she made 27 costumes for the play. She was also a wonderful cook and baker. During the holiday season she would bake each of her children’s favorite pies and her grandchildren's favorite desserts. She had a loving heart, not only for her family but for anyone who needed one. She was always a lady and was able to express herself and get her point across although always in a beautiful way. She and Gary Jan were long-time members of First Assembly of God Church. They moved their membership to Briarwood Church in 1998. In her later years, she worked for Walmart where she was lovingly known as Miss Edna until her retirement. 

Edna was preceded in death by her parents, Lonnie and Lindora Goodner, her husband of 58 years, Gary Jan Smith, in 2014; her second husband, Fred Palmer, in 2021; and two grandsons, Cody Don Russell and Christopher Jan Russell. 

Survivors include her four daughters, Janet Klein and husband Louis of Seabrook, Andora Roberts and Randy Hendrick of Pampa, Sherry Free and husband Steven of Pampa, Tamra Smith of Pampa; two sisters, twin sister Lonita Kirkland of McKinney and Linda Chapman and husband Roy Lee of Lakeland, TN; brother, Bracy Goodner and wife Hannah of Ft. Worth; eight grandchildren, Angela Klein, Brian Klein, Callan Horton, Zachary Roberts, Sarah Faircloth and husband Jonathan, Sean Turner, Garrett Griffith, and Landon Griffith, along with ten great-grandchildren. She will be lovingly remembered and missed by numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and life-long friends.

Memorials can be sent to the National Parkinson’s Foundation, P.0. Box 5018, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5018.