The Life of JAMES HASCUE SMITH
Under the wide and starry sky…Home is the sailor, home from the sea…
James Smith, 90, died Monday, September 13, 2010 at Ramsey Village. Funeral services will be 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 21st at Hamilton’s near Highland Memory Gardens with burial following at Highland Memory Gardens. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the service.
James, a leap year baby, was born February 29, 1920 in Riverside, Iowa. He remembered the depression years as a difficult time for his family. In an oral history interview he said, “I graduated from high school and couldn’t buy a job.” So in 1938 he went to work for the Civilian Conservation Corp earning his first wages, $25 a month. His crew hand graded and sodded a Solon park near Lake McBride and then worked in Eldora. He also worked on soil erosion projects, built terraces, used dynamite and learned surveying skills.
James proudly served in the Navy 1941 – 1946. After the war he returned to Des Moines to reunite with his great love and wife, Betty (Keller) and raised two daughters. He trained as a body mechanic, but later entered the insurance business as an adjuster. He retired from Allied Insurance.
James enjoyed hunting, restoring cars, raising sheep and horses, as well as square dancing. He found joy in spending time with his grandchildren and great grandchildren. Sadly, at the end of his productive and vigorous life, he suffered from Lewy Body Dementia.
His parents Niman and Flora Belle Smith, his sisters Mary Edna Smith and Velma Vanderlinden, his wife Betty, and his beloved long time companion, Mary Farrell, predeceased James. Daughters Candice and Sandra, six grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren, sisters-in-law Doris Wright and Evelyn Jennings, and many nieces and nephews survive him.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice of Central Iowa or the Lewy Body Dementia Association.