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Loretta Smith
OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — Loretta B. Smith, formerly of Charleston, Mo., died May 13, 2018, in Okeechobee.
Born Oct. 22, 1927, at Medley, Mo., near the Dorena Community in Mississippi County, daughter of the late Fred and Lula Bevil, she taught school in Mississippi County Dorena and Hames Bayou Area for five years and one year at Belmont. She was employed at Illinois Bell Telephone for six months in 1953, and she and her husband moved to St. Louis, Mo., where they lived and worked for almost eight years.She was employed with the Tretolite Chemical Company in Webster Groves and moved to St. Ann, Miss., where she worked for the Vatterott Real Estate and Insurance Company. They moved to Sikeston, Mo., in 1960 and purchased an insurance agency. In 1963, they moved to Charleston and worked with Charleston Abstract Company and Insurance, a family-owned business. In 1974 she won her bid for the county office of circuit clerk and recorder, which she held for 16 years. She retired and wrote court criminal minutes for Mississippi County Times for nearly seven years.
On May 23, 1953, in Cairo, Ill., she married David Kiah Smith.
She is survived by her sister, Mrs. Fred (Ruth) Dark of Okeechobee; nephew, Fred Dean Dark; and four great-nieces.
Family and friends will assemble for graveside services at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 27 at the I.O.O.F. Cemetery near Charleston.
Burial will follow under the direction of the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.
Online condolences may be shared at www.mcmiklefuneralhome.com.