Lovella Smith will celebrate her 85th birthday on May 1. 

A resident of Great Bend, Pawnee Rock, and Larned for nearly 60 years, she was born in Pampa, Texas, on May 1, 1934, to Gus Henry Kuepker and Gertrude Aurora Duncan. She graduated from Hamilton High School in 1952. She attended Emporia State Teacher’s College earning a B.A., and an M.S. She began her career as a high school business teacher in Ottawa and later in Pawnee Rock and Larned, where she taught business, typing, photography, computers and distributive education. She also taught adult education night classes through Barton County Community College. Lovella retired from teaching in 1998.

On May 31, 1957, she married H.A. Smith at the First Presbyterian Church in Emporia. They have three children, Desmond, Houston, Texas, Dianne Johnson, Paso Robles, Calif., and Brian, Henderson, Nev.