Mary Jane Smith

Mary Jane Rice Smith born on July 22, 1922 to the late Otto and Odas Rice. She passed away peacefully in her own home on August 13, 2023. She graduated in 1940 from Grandview, Indiana High School and attended Evansville College. In 1942 she was married to Charles William Smith, her childhood sweetheart.

She was preceded in death by her husband Charles W. Smith, sisters Florene Varner Spencer and Elizabeth Ann Varner; brothers, William Goodman Rice, Nicholas Varner, Frank A. Varner, and Ben Varner Jr.

Mary (sometimes known as Mary Jane or even Janie Lou) is survived by three daughters: Carolyn (Curtis) Smith of Walton, KY; Jeri (David) Biedenkopf of Indianapolis, IN; Peggy (João) Fonseca of Walton, KY; two grandchildren, Charles Smith of Walton, KY and Megan (Ben) Biedenkopf Lord of Oahu, HI and two step-grandchildren Elly Fonseca Holness (Jamie) of Oslo, Norway and Sissy Fonseca Lota (Vinicius) of Whippany, NJ; and three step-great-grandchildren.

Mary lived in five states and worked at various jobs such as Indiana Women’s Prison, Sears and Roebuck, Internal Revenue Service, US Customs at O’Hara Airport, Real Estate agent, and Amoco Oil. She had many hobbies and interest such as gardening, sewing, knitting, crocheting, tatting, marking cards on the computer, quilting, home improvement projects, building furniture,  jelly making, and working with the Samaritan’s Purse shoe box project for many years, to name a few. She was very active in church as long as her health allowed, most recently New Bethel Baptist Church in Verona, KY.

Visitation will be at the Hamilton-Stanley Funeral Home in Verona, KY on August 16, 2023 from 1:00pm-3:00pm. The funeral will be at 3:00pm at the funeral home. A graveside service and burial will be at New Hope Cemetery, Newtonville, IN, on Friday, August 18, 2023 at 1:00pm CT.

In lieu of flowers the family request donations be sent to New Bethel Baptist Church, (2022 Verona Mudlick Road, Verona, KY 41092 or (https://app.easytithe.com/App/Form/064e9a6a-5197-4639-9e83-51129b00e34e) or to Bluegrass Care Navigators, who cared for her at home through hospice for the last 7 months of her life. (https://www.bgcarenav.org/give?fbclid=lwAROUv_xTd-k3Iskqw9VE-AYBOIJsFokoOXqU6sCSjboJfAzoYoG2WaLcHPo)