MENTONE - Geraldine "Jerry" L. Smith, 89, Mentone, died at 11:03 p.m. Jan. 25, 2011, in Miller's Merry Manor, Warsaw.
She was born Feb. 1, 1921, in Mentone, to Dean Sr. and Ethel Tucker Nellans. On Aug. 31, 1940, in Logansport, she married Frank D. Smith, who survives.
She and her husband purchased the Mentone grocery store in 1947, a business they owned and operated as "Frank & Jerry's" for 32 years. The store was leased at the time of a fire in 2003 that destroyed the building. Following retirement from their grocery business, she was a realtor for a number of years.
She was a member of Mentone United Methodist Church. Ethel Nellans, her mother, was a charter member of the Mentone Anthony Nigo chapter of the Daughters of the American Revelation. She followed in her mother's footsteps, being a DAR member for 64 years, serving as chapter regent, as Northern District Director and as a state and national page. She wrote a state-winning essay of more than 3,000 words on "The Constitution versus World Government," and served on many committees. She was a former member of the Mentone Order of Eastern Star. She was a lifetime Mentone resident and graduated from Mentone High School in 1938.
Also surviving are two sisters, Norma Jean Clauss, Bourbon, and Juanita Paulus, Rochester; a brother, Dean "Dee" Nellans Jr., Mentone; and several nieces and nephews.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at King Memorial Home, 101 N. Tucker St., Mentone, with the Rev. Amber Karkosky-Litten officiating. Burial will be in Mentone Cemetery.
Calling is one hour prior to the service Saturday at the funeral home.
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Memorials may be made to Kosciusko County Council on Aging and Aged Inc. Endowment Fund, through the Kosciusko County Community Foundation, 102 E. Market St., Warsaw, IN 46580. Online gifts can be made at www.kcfoundation.org/donate
Condolences can be sent via www.hartzlerfuneralservices.com
