JEAN E. SMITH

LIBERTY-Services will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday at Hidden Valley Funeral Home in Kearney for Jean Elaine Smith, 79, Liberty, who died Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, at Liberty Hospital. Burial will be held at 2 p.m., at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Lamar.

In lieu of flowers donations can be sent to Ozark Chapel United Methodist Church, PO Box 1096, Laurie, MO 65038 or any charity that the Lord leads you to choose.

Survivors include a brother, Fred Garth Rose and wife Mickey; daughters, Vickie Jean Stanton and Cynthia Lee Cantu and husband Larry; sons, Mark Allen Stanton and wife Mary and Rodney Smith and wife Shelby; a daughter-in-law, Loretta Stanton; stepsons, Ron Smith and wife Kathy and Richard Smith and wife Sandy; grandchildren, Alan Hutzler and husband Chett, Julia Allbright and husband Garrett, Kirstie and Kyle Smith, John Luke and James Stanton, Nicole Stanton and fiance Josh Wilson and Ash Carrel and husband Chad; great-grandchildren, Weston Hoffart, Haize Hutzler, Adelyn Carrel and Colin Carrel; step-grandchildren, Shauna and Ashley Smith, Zara Porter, Teresa-Shelley and Sabrina Wise, Harrison Smith and Mackenzie Smith and many precious neighbors, friends, fellow workers, parishioners and staff from Landmark Towers.

She was preceded in death by three brothers, Quenton Eugene Rose, Horace Rose., Jr. and Carl Rose; a sister, Kathryn Kentner; a son, Randall Benton Stanton; her first husband and love of her life, Robert Lee Stanton and her second husband, Roy Smith, father to her youngest son, Rodney Leroy Smith.

Mrs. Smith was born Aug. 5, 1936, on a farm in Henry County, to Horace Benton Rose (of Missouri) and Della Minerva (Machesney of Illinois). She grew up in Lamar and finished high school at the age of 16. She attended Ozark Bible College in Joplin for one semester, got home sick and moved back home to work in a local cafe, where she met a traveling salesman from Ash Grove, Robert Lee Stanton. They married in 1955 and moved to Kansas City and had four children. They divorced and she married Roy Smith and they had son Rodney. They then moved to Sunrise Beach and she worked at Ozark Bar-B-Que and Sharon's Laurie Donut Shop for many years.

In October 2013 she moved to Landmark Towers in Liberty, where she enjoyed her new found friends, fellowship and Bingo! She loved music and was active all of her life in the church choir. She loved Elvis Presley and John Wayne, but most of all she loved Jesus! Because of her love of Jesus she survived a life of many losses and leaves a legacy of love.