Ardella Avis (Payne) Smith was born on October 31 1934 to Snowful and Millard Payne of Bicknell Indiana.
Those left to mourn the loss of Ardella include her children, Terry Donnell, Linda (Alan) Williams, Sandy Heath, David (Cindy) Heath, Teresa (Mark) Wiener, Ardella Sue (David) Munday, 16 grandchildren, Tonya, Kenny, Robert, Rick, Fallon, Keri, Haley, Stevie, DJ, Ashley, Amber, Heather, Jessica, Casey, Cody and Melinda, 28 great grandchildren, 10 great great grandchildren, siblings, Carolyn Payne, Betty Racey, Ruthy Bryant, Zuella Stremming, Wesley Payne and 35 nieces and nephews – who loved their Aunt Ardella dearly and were very close to. She is preceded in death by, her parents, children, Debbie Donnell and Steven Heath, and siblings, Joan Rall, Arthur Payne, John David Payne and Daniel Payne.
She enjoyed talking to her sisters and brother but couldn’t talk very long cause she would be short winded. She enjoyed going to Church, being with family, traveling, working puzzles, playing cards, yard sales.
A member of Calvary Apostolic Church in Lawrenceville Illinois. She taught her children to recite the 23rd Psalm.
She was born to a Heavenly mother who saw to it that her children went to church and church camps.
She had met Don Donnell and was blessed with 3 children, Debbie who died as a baby, Terry, who fought in the Vietnam war and blessed her with 3 grandchildren, and Linda, who blessed her with 4 grandchildren. Linda’s husband Alan would drop by coffee and donuts on Friday morning. Linda would cook and Alan would take her food down to her. Her granddaughter, Tonya, was a nurse and would always stop in to check up on her.
After having a difficult life, she met Roger Heath in Lawrenceville, where they had 3 children — Steven who went to be with lord in his 50’s, and way too soon, blessed her with 2 grandchildren, David, who was always fixing moms car, blessed her with 4 grandchildren, and Teresa, blessing her with 3 grandchildren, and who even built a house with a room for her to live in Rogersville, Missouri, which is where she went to begin her journey with the Lord. Mark sent her to visit her sister Joan in Arizona and that is where all of her traveling days started by Greyhound bus and even by plane.
She met Billy Dale Robertson at her sister’s house playing cards and together they were blessed with 1 child. She named her Ardella Sue, who would come and get her to take her shopping, eating out, and staying for weeks on end in Elberfeld. They were great travel buddies going to Panama City Florida, Springfield and Rogersville Missouri.
She loved her kids, grandkids and all of her families. She loved talking on the phone with her kids every day. She would even just call to say Hi! I Love You! and Bye” in less than 5 minutes because she knew busy life. Everyone always made time for mom, even if it was the same stories repeated, but we still listened as though were hearing it for the very first.
She loved going to her sister Carolyn’s to play cards and games. sister Betty would come and pick her up from Vincennes and would take her back to Elberfeld where they spent time going to Bingo and playing cards. She gave her life to Christ at Calvary Apostolic where she met her companion of 14 years, Les Harlan.
Her plans on the future were bright. She was to be moving to Rogersville, Missouri where Teresa was planning on hitting the open road and take her to Columbia, Tennessee to visit her sister, Carolyn, who is also too ill to travel, to visit her sister, Ruthy, who lives in Florida, and is too ill to travel. She was looking forward to spending her mornings out on the deck overlooking the woods drinking her coffee. This past week she went to JCPenney’s and bought an Easter Dress. She enjoyed dinner at Lambert’s Café. She continued her Walk with Jesus on Thursday March 2nd, 2023 in Rogersville, Missouri.
Services for Ardella Smith will be on Saturday, March 11, 2023 at Calvary Apostolic Church at 1 P.M. C.S.T. with visitation from 11:00 A.M. C.S.T. until the time of service. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery.
The family appreciates and thanks everyone for all of the kind words, prayers, loves, hugs, and everything in between. In lieu of flowers the family would greatly appreciate any contributions towards funeral expenses. She will be greatly missed but always remembered.
Fredrick & Son McClure Utt Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with the care of Mrs. Ardella Smith. The family welcomes online condolences to be left at www.fredrickandson.com.