Smith, Sara A.

Sara A. Smith, 99, of Oelwein, died Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011, at Oelwein Healthcare Center. Visitation will be from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4, at Geilenfeld Funeral Home in Oelwein. Funeral services will follow the visitation at 11:30 a.m. at the funeral home. She will be laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Sara was born in Randalia on March 7, 1912, to parents George and Fannie (Safranek) Dege. She was the youngest of nine children. She graduated from Maynard High School. On Sept. 4, 1932, Sara was united in marriage to Clifford Smith in Galena, Ill. Sara and Clifford farmed Clifford's family farm until moving to Oelwein in 1982, the year they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Sara always had a Pug dog. She loved taking walks with Clifford, making molasses cookies, and gardening, especially her flower gardens. She always planted a large garden, then shared and canned her harvest, including a large apple crop. She loved being on the farm, and was well known for her farm dinners, which she provided for her family and their thrashers during harvest.

She was a lifelong homemaker and only left the state of Iowa once, taking her one and only plane trip to San Francisco in 1958.

Sara became a part of the Oelwein Healthcare Center family in August 2008. She was to be honored as Resident of the Month for January 2012.

Sara will be dearly missed by all who knew, and continue to love her.

Left to celebrate Sara's life are her great-nieces, Cindy Meister of Muscatine and Pam (Chris) Murphy of Riverside, Calif.; and her cousins, Frankie (Royce) King of Oelwein, Eleanor (Jim) Larson of Oelwein and Marcia Dykema of Wheaton, Ill.

In death, Sara has rejoined Clifford, her beloved husband of 70 years (2002); her parents; two brothers, and six sisters.

Memorials may be directed to the American Cancer Society and Oelwein Healthcare Center.

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Published Dec. 29, 2011, in The Gazette