Clarence H. Smith, age 88, of Mora and formerly of Andover, died July 13, 2011 at GracePointe Crossing Gables West in Cambridge. Funeralservices will be held at noon on Monday, July 18th at Constance Evangelical Free Church with Pastor Randy Discher officiating. Avisitation will be held one hour prior to the service Monday at the church. Interment will be in Morningside Memorial Gardens inCoon Rapids. Memorials are suggested to Children’s Shelter of Cebu.
Clarence Henry “Smitty” Smith was born in Mora, MN on November 21, 1922 to Nettie (Thompson) and Alfred E. Smith, the 6th of 7 children. On January 29, 1943 he married Cleo Alice Arends. They had 4 daughters: Linda Sabatke (Charles) of Rathdrum, ID, Beverly Payne (William) of North Branch, MN, Joanne Trenda (Thomas) of New Prague, MN and Anita Standish (Allan) Standish of Anchorage, AK.
Clarence worked in the shipyards of Portland, OR during WWII as a welder, a skill he continued to use throughout his life. He worked for many years as a custodian in the Anoka-Hennepin School District.
Clarence passed away July 13, 2011 at GracePointe Crossing Gables West in Cambridge at the age of 88 years, 7 months and 22 days. He was preceded in death by his parents, Alfred & Nettie, bothers Archie & Harry Smith, sisters Gladys Engstrom and Myrna Bassett and daughter Joanne Trenda.
He is survived by his wife Cleo; daughters Linda, Bev & Nita; Grandchildren Revana, Christopher, Athena, Derek, Chris, Dominique, Keith, Angelique, Isaac & Matthew; Great-Grandchildren Aaron, Devyn, Michael, Keely, Aurora, Alex, Soren, Brandon, Avery, Cyrus, Hailey & Thayer; Great-Great-Grandchildren Sofia and Duncan; sister Margaret and brother Stanley; and many nieces & nephews.
Clarence was a man of God that was a faithful prayer warrior. I considered my Alicia his prayer baby. He would faithfully pray and call me each week to see how I was doing. He will be remembered as a faithful servant to God and others!
Mr. Smith was a wonderful neighbor that took many of us to church as kids when he lived in Coon Rapids. I can still see him taking his hat off and bowing in prayer before he would start the car and ask the Lord to get us to our destination safely.
I also remember the wonderful afternoon rides in the Dug Bug….around and around their property.
May the Smith family find peace and comfort knowing he is with the Lord.
I heard at church today that one of those important guys from my youth has passed. Clarence Smith Der Schmittenheimer was a great friend to boys. Beginning in about 1960 he and his wife Cleo would drive up to Blackduck to visit Max and Nina, and Clarence had a way of enlivening boys youth-group events, those times he could be along.
A favorite memory is his bear hunting trips with Max, and the time he wanted to capture a cub he and Max had found. As I recall he stayed to keep it treed, Max came for some more help, a gunny sack and a ladder. It was night by time we got there, and we were in thick black brush with a couple of poor two-cell flashlights for illumination. Mama bear was making charges thru the woods towards us, popping her teeth and cracking branches to show her displeasure with the whole thing.
I still have one of those knives he ground out of a hunk of a big old bandsaw blade my Dad got for him from the old Red Lake mill.
Fifty years later I still repeat a Clarence story: He said, we were walking down the sidewalk and I asked Cleo, did you see that pretty girl smile at me?’ And Cleo without missing a step said ‘that’s nothing, the first time I saw you I laughed right out loud!’
I never saw him when he wasn’t smiling, and making us smile too…or maybe laugh right out loud. This old world is a lesser place without him.
Lyle Wallin