Funeral services for Mary Elizabeth Claunch Smith, age 95 will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 12, 2015 at Murray-Orwosky Funeral Home with Bill Byerly officiating. Interment will follow at Restlawn Memorial Park with Leon Anderson, Johnny Grigsby, Gary Vincent, Larry Connaughton, Donald Cullen Potts, II and Matthew Woodward serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers are Wendell and Martha Heard. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service.
Mary passed away on Monday, September 7, 2015 at the Autumn Wind Assisted Living in Mineola. She was born on September 2, 1920 in Como, the daughter of Rudy and Ollie (King) Claunch. She married Marion Smith, Jr. on December 26, 1941 in Greenville. He preceded her in death in 2009. She was a long time member of the First United Methodist Church in Arlington. She retired from Sears.
She is survived by her daughter, Sandra Byerly and husband, Bill of Tyler; grandchildren, Christi Elizabeth Byerly, and Patrick Smith Byerly and wife, Jill McGill; great-grandchildren, William Byerly and Bella Byerly.
Along with her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Gretta Grigsby, Grace Duncan and Thelma Landers, brothers, Sterlon Claunch and Pat Claunch.
The family requests memorials be made to Woodland Cemetery Association, c/o Bonnie Rose, 633 Beth Lane, Sulphur Springs, TX 75482, Forest Academy Cemetery Association; c/o Sidney J. Phillips, 147 Russell Dr., Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482 or Texas Scottish Rite Hospital of Children, Attn. Development Department, 2222 Welborn St., Dallas, Texas 75219.
