BURDETT — Vernon Wilbur Smith, 99, died June 22, 2011, at the Rush County Nursing Home in LaCrosse.
He was born Dec. 10, 1911, the son of Arthur and Iona Newport Smith. A lifetime area resident, he was a farmer. On Dec. 14, 1947, he married Freeda L. Carney at Lewis. She passed away July 26, 2009.
He was a member of the United Methodist Church, and Lions Club both of Burdett, a former bank director of Burdett State Bank and a Brown’s Grove Township Trustee.
Survivors include, two sons, Tom and wife Ann, Garfield; and Greg and wife Kim, Larned; two daughters, Diane Arnold and husband Bill, Shawnee; and Gayla Lohfink and husband Rick, Holcomb; 11 grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
He was preceded in death by two brothers, Everett Smith and Donald Smith; and a sister, Norma Boese.
Funeral services are scheduled at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 25 at the United Methodist Church in Burdett with the Pastor Bill Fitzgerrel presiding. Burial will be at the Brown’s Grove Cemetery in Burdett. Friends may visit from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the Beckwith Mortuary in Larned.
Memorials are suggested to the Jay Artaz “I Can” Scholarship Fund or the United Methodist Church in Burdett in care of the funeral home. Personal condolences may be left at www.beckwithmortuary.com.

Funeral arrangements provided by
Beckwith Mortuary*
P.O. Box 477
Larned, KS, 67550
Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, June 24, 2011