The Ledger (Lakeland, FL)
January 6, 1999SEBRING -- Mr. Ray H. Smith of Sebring died Sunday (Jan. 3, 1999) at I.H.S. of Sebring. He was 81.
Born in Clearwater on March 12, 1917, he came to Sebring from Hollywood, Fla., in 1961. He was a drivers education teacher for Sebring High School. He was a deacon and elder at First Presbyterian Church, Sebring, and a veteran of World War II.
He is survived by his wife, Phyllis Smith; son, Bruce Smith, St. Louis; and daughters, Karen Mydland, Cheyenne, Wyo., and Patsy Smith, Sebring.
News-Sun (Sebring, FL)
December 15, 2013Phyllis Parker Smith, a Sebring resident for 52 years, passed away Monday morning, Dec. 9, 2013.
She was born April 16, 1921 on a farm near Dickens, Neb., where her parents were homesteaders. When her mother died four years later, Phyllis and her twin brother Philip were sent to another farm in Douglas, Neb., where she was raised by their grandmother. She attended Peru State Teachers College and taught school in Nebraska and Iowa before marrying Ray Smith, a Florida native, in 1947.
She was a longtime member of the First Presbyterian Church in Sebring, where she was active in the Women in the Church and other church functions. She enjoyed camping and bird watching, and was renowned for her pies.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Ray Smith; her sister, Dorothy Geihsler; and her brothers, William, Charles, and Philip Parker and Robert Trotter.
She is survived by her daughters, Karen Mydland (Milt) of Cheyenne, Wyo. and Patsy Smith of Sebring; her son, Bruce Smith (Jane) of St. Louis, Mo.; and two step granddaughters and two step great-granddaughters in Colorado and Wyoming.
St. Petersburg Times (FL)
May 5, 2000BEARDSLEY, JEAN S., 80, of Titusville, formerly of Dunedin and Clearwater, died Saturday (April 29, 2000) at home.
She was born in Clearwater and moved to Titusville in 1999. She was a homemaker. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church of Dunedin.
Survivors include two sons, James, Dunedin, and Mark, Commerce, Ga.; a daughter, Laurel Beardsley, Titusville; a brother, Glenn Smith, Crawfordville; a sister, Claire Houghton, Dunedin; and four grandchildren.
St. Petersburg Times (FL)
June 6, 1996James L. ""Jim'' Beardsley, 83, who was the popular columnist ""Colonel Clearwater'' during his 39 years with the Clearwater Sun, died Tuesday (June 4, 1996) at Mease Continuing Care, Dunedin.
The Sunday editorial page published the ""Colonel's'' letters to public officials and comments on letters from readers. His identity was not disclosed at the time.
His son, James K. Beardsley of Dunedin, remembers his father ""working at home on the "Colonel's' answers to the multitude of letters readers would write in to the paper.''
In the mid-1940s, Mr. Beardsley inherited the duties of the colorful mythical character created by Clearwater Sun owner-editor-publisher Victor Morgan. The paper, established in 1914, was closed in 1989.
Mr. Beardsley, who came here in 1924 from his native Richmond, Va., was a 1931 graduate of Clearwater High School. In 1935, after graduating from the University of Florida school of journalism, he joined the staff of the Clearwater Sun as a $12-a-week proofreader. Within six months he was promoted to managing editor. He retired in 1974 as executive editor.
He left journalism during World War II to serve in the Army Air Forces as a control tower operator in the Signal Corps in North Africa and Italy.
His patriotism did not end there. After retiring, he started a new project: Early on every patriotic holiday, Mr. Beardsley and his wife, Jean, could be spotted placing American flags in front of 107 downtown businesses.
The couple faithfully distributed the flags at dawn and picked them up at dusk on 10 holidays a year. They did this until 1988, when Mr. Beardsley suffered a heart attack. The program was sponsored by Dunedin Jaycees. The couple received the History Maker Award in 1981 from the Dunedin Historical Society.
Mr. Beardsley was remembered by former employee Alice McKenzie as ""very quiet, very kind and very professional.''
Mr. Beardsley was past president and a founding member of Dunedin Jaycees. He was instrumental in the establishment of Fisher Field and was coach for the Dunedin Jaycee National Little League. He was an Eagle Scout member of Troop 10, Boy Scouts of America, Dunedin, and a past member of Clearwater Kiwanis. He was a former deacon and elder at Faith Presbyterian Church, Dunedin.
Survivors include his wife, Jean S.; two sons, James K., Dunedin, and Mark S., Commerce, Ga.; a daughter, Laurel L., Titusville; a brother, Grant L., Placida; a sister, Alice Beardsley-Garber, Chappaqua, N.Y.; four grandchildren; and 16 nieces and nephews.
The Wakulla News (Crawfordville, FL)
December 9, 2010Harold Glenn Smith, 89, of Crawfordville died Sunday, Dec. 5, at his home in Crawfordville.
He was born in Clearwater on Aug. 25, 1921, the son of Albert Albee Smith and Adella Lenora Ottillie Smith.
He grew up in Clearwater and Dunedin with a love of the sea and sailing, spending many hours and days exploring the local islands. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and graduated from the Hospital Corps School before Pearl Harbor and eventually became attached to the First Marine Division as a Navy Corpsman. He was part of the initial landings on Guadalcanal and served with the First Marines until they were withdrawn to Australia. He spent the rest of the war on various ships and at various postings and was honorable discharged in May 1947.
He went to the University of Florida on the G.I. Bill, receiving a degree in pharmacy in 1950 and becoming a registered pharmacist in 1951. After several temporary jobs in central and north Florida, he opened Wakulla Pharmacy in 1954. It remained the only pharmacy in the county until 1975 and remained in business until 1986. He enjoyed living in Wakulla County because of his attraction to the community, the nearsalt water and sailing.
Survivors include his four children: Betsy Della Smith of Crawfordville, Melissa Ann Pejrano of Lugagnano, Italy, Randolph Harold Smith of Wakulla Station, and Jennifer Ellen Druda of St. Marks; and three granddaughters: Sylvia Carla Pejrano, Sarah Claire Smith and Glen Jolie Smith.
He was preceded in death his wife, Mary Elizabeth Smith, his friend Eloise Hunnicutt.
St. Petersburg Times (FL)
July 3, 2005HOUGHTON, CLAIRE SMITH, 83, of Dunedin, died Friday (July 1, 2005) at Mease Dunedin Hospital.
She was a lifetime resident of Clearwater. She was a registered nurse for 15 years at Mease Dunedin Hospital. She was an Army nurse during World War II and served in the European theater. She was awarded a Bronze Star for her service. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Dunedin since 1934. She volunteered at RCS Food Pantry and Dunedin Public Library and the First Presbyterian Church in Dunedin. She enjoyed the outdoors and was an avid reader.
Survivors include a son, Eric, Dunedin; three daughters, Ann Houghton, Balsam, N.C., Amy Guthrie, Tallahassee, and Nancy Penney, Lexington, S.C.; and four grandsons, Adam Penney and Luke Penney, both of Lexington, and John Guthrie and Thomas Guthrie, both of Tallahassee.
The Tampa Tribune
August 15, 1961Clearwater, Aug. 14 (by Staff Writer) - Mrs. Vida Hudson Smith, 59. of 911 Hart St., died in Atlanta, Ga., today wjile visting her daughter, Mrs. Thomas Florecent.
She came here in 1917 from Hudson and was born in DeSoto County.
Other survivors include her husband, Wayne A. Smith, Clearwater; son Wayne A. Smith Jr., Chamblee, Ga.; four grandchildren; one brother, Claude Hudso, New Port Richey; two sisters, Mrs. Earl Thornton, Weirsdale, and Mrs. Walter Hudson, Bliss, Hudson.
local newspaper
Lincoln, May 23 - Joel S. Spearin, 75, died Sunday morning at Bangor hospital after a short illness.
He was born in Winn, the son of Hiram and Melissa (Jaminson) Spearin.
Mr. Spearin had been employed by the Easter Corporation in Lincoln for 35 years.
He is survived by his widowm Priscill (Dill) Spearin; four daughterd, Mrs. Edward Faulkner of Portland, Mrs. Alex Weatherebee, Mrs Stanley Kilbride and Mrs. Ronold Morrison, all of Lincoln; one son, Joseph M. of Lincoln; one sister, Mrs. Dave Corbett of Lee; one brother, Maurice od Winn; several nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
local newspaper
LEE - Althea Munson, died Nov. 24 at a Lincoln nursing home.
Swas born in Lee April 10, 1992, daughter of Hiram and Melissa (Jameson) Spearin.
She is survived by three sons, Hollis Priest, Springfield; Kenneth Bartlett and Wayne Bartlett, both of Lee; four daughters, Mrs. Florence Fogg, Winn; Mai Worster, Los Angeles, Calif.; Mrs. Pearl McLeod, Lincoln; Mrs. Lorraine Smith, Winn. several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.