Rita Pauline Smith

Rita Pauline Smith, age 91, of Belle Center, Ohio, passed away Monday, May 29, 2017 at her home.

Rita was born in Hardin County Ohio June 26, 1925, to the late Thornton and Gracie Wilmont Claybaugh.  She was also preceded in death by her sisters and brothers-in-law, Eileen and Earl Griffis and Nina and Everett Abrams, and a son-in-law John Brunke.

Rita was married to Robert L. Smith for seventy one years and they knew each other for seventy seven years and forty nine days.  They were married April 12, 1946 in Roundhead, and he survives in Belle Center.  She is also survived by their children, Ron (Melanie) Smith and Connie Brunke, both of Belle Center; four grandchildren, Jon (Tori) Smith of Delaware, Ohio, Jason (Carrie) Smith of Kenton, Ohio, Jeff (Jenny) Smith of Kenton and Andrea (Todd) Downing of Belle Center; six great-grandchildren, Grace, Maddie, Nick, Lindsay and Abby Smith, and Laila Downing, and several nieces and nephews.

A 1944 graduate of Roundhead High School, Rita was a homemaker.  She was a member of the Belle Center United Methodist Church and a longtime member of the Fides Circle of Kings Daughters.  Rita loved to travel and had a magnet from everywhere she went.  Rita and Robert enjoyed going to the Logan and Hardin County Senior Centers.

Visitation will be held Thursday, June 1, 2017, from 6 to 8 P.M. at the Eichholtz Daring & Sanford Funeral Home in Belle Center.  Pastor Kevin Smith will officiate the funeral service Friday, June 2, 2017 at 11A.M. at the funeral home.  Burial will be at the Fairview Cemetery in Belle Center.

The funeral arrangements are in the care of the staff of the Eichholtz Daring & Sanford Funeral Home in Belle Center.