Mabel Smith
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Although we may be sad here without her, we know there were many happy smiles and reunions in heaven on the day our Granny Smith was reunited with Grandpa in the early morning hours of January 21, 2021.
Mabel Dora Anna Enfield Smith was welcomed into her family by her parents, Olliver Newton Enfield and Susie Caroline Campbell Enfield and her older brother Everett, on January 4, 1931, in Benkleman, Nebraska. She was soon joined by sisters, Christina May and Virginia Caroline, and brother Olliver John.
Mabel spent her growing up years in Idaho, Utah and California. During World War II, she was part of the Civil Air Patrol while she was in high school. After the war, when her sweetheart, John Paul Smith, returned to civilian life, they were married on March 20, 1947 in Los Angeles, California.
They returned to Idaho where John went to work for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. One of his first assignments took them to the wilderness area of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River where they lived in a log cabin with no electricity or running water until John piped in hot water from a nearby hot spring. Mabel loved to tell how John spaded her a garden spot with a shovel and improvised an irrigation system from the hot spring as well.
Their first two children, Jonnie Jo and Jack Wheten had joined the family when John was recalled to active duty during the Korean Conflict. He served as a tank instructor at Oceanside, California from 1950-1951. The family then returned to Idaho and he resumed working for the Department of Fish and Game. He was stationed in northern Idaho where four more children were added to their family, Kris Lee, Mark Curtis, Bart Lynn and Frankie Sue. When John was reassigned to southern Idaho in 1963, the family moved to Rexburg, Idaho, where they spent the rest of their lives.
In her 90 years, Mabel carried many titles, some of which include: loving wife to her sweetheart, John P. Smith (whom she lost in 2018); mom; grandma; granny; great-grandma; grandma-great; great-great-grandma; homemaker; painter; decorator; dispatcher; secretary; cleaner; gardener; quilter; fisher-woman; scrap-booker; ceramic painter; pine-needle basket maker; crochet; pinochle, bridge, poker, scrabble, & farkle-player extrordinaire; chauffeur; and friend to all she met. She delighted in sharing her hobbies with her children and grandchildren.
Mabel's home was always open to those who stopped by, greeting everyone with smiles and hugs. Her family will long remember homemade noodles over mashed potatoes, hot rolls smothered in butter; new potatoes and peas from the garden; ham hocks and green beans and the best hash brown potatoes in the West. We'll long remember picking huckleberries "up in the hills," planting gardens, canning pickled beets and dilly beans; her hand pieced quilts. Memories also of clipping coupons, and planning the shopping route for the day. Generations treasure the many Memorial Day weekend camping out at Sand Creek - the opening of fishing season. Her children are still singing the cadences sung on road trips to shorten the miles in the days before radio or video games.
Mabel's posterity includes her 6 children and their spouses: Jonnie Jo (Theron) Gardner of Arco; Jack (Patricia) Smith of Chugiak, Alaska; Kris (Rosalyn) Smith of Pocatello; Mark (Terri) Smith of Richland, Washington; Bart (Barbara) Smith of Archer, and Frankie Sue (Bret, deceased) Sutton of Archer; 24 grandchildren; 53 great-grandchildren; 31 great-great grandchildren... and counting.
She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, infant brother, Jackie Lee Enfield, sister, Christina, brothers, and Everett and John.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, January 28, at 11:00 am at Flamm Funeral home. Burial will be at Sutton Cemetery in Archer. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Idaho Food Bank or the Rexburg Senior Center.