Rose "Eleanore" Smith

Rose Eleanore Hayes Smith of Sioux City, passed away Sunday, May 7, 2017, at Fountain View Assisted Living in Sioux City.
Memorial service will be 2 p.m. Friday, at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home.
Eleanore was born at the family farmhouse on Aug. 31, 1929, to Ora Albert and Rosa Mae (Bauer) Hayes, in Great Bend, Kan. She was named Rose Eleanore Hayes, after her mother and great-aunt. Her father passed away in December 1936. She was the youngest of five children, joining brothers Albert, Charles, James and Walter. She went by her middle name all her life, eventually dropping her first name. She attended District 5 country school near Great Bend, until graduation from eighth grade. She graduated from Great Bend High School in 1947.
It was while attending District 5 country school that she met and fell in love with Franklin Smith and his sisters. She married him on Feb. 18, 1949, in Great Bend, with Frank's sister, Sarah, as maid of honor; his sister, Patty, was flower girl, Eleanore's nephew, Vernon, was ring bearer and brother, James "Jim" gave her away in marriage.
Joan, their oldest child, was born in Great Bend. In October 1950, the family moved to Seminoe Dam, Wyo., where Frank began working for the Federal Bureau of Reclamation (now the Department of Energy). Sons, James and Michael, were born in Wyoming. Eventually, the family moved to Watertown, S.D., where they lived for 24 years until Frank's retirement in June 1978, moving to Tucson, Ariz. Frank passed away in Tucson in January 1999. Eleanore continued to live in Tucson until April 2007, when she moved to Sioux City.
Throughout the years, Eleanore was kept busy by her three children and volunteer work for the Democratic Party and the United Methodist Church. She was active in the WSCS and taught Sunday School for many years. Eleanore always loved to read and collect teddy bears. She was also a member of Grace United Methodist Church, the United Methodist Women, DAR, Colonial Dames, DAC, Magna Carta Dames, Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Group, and the Plantagenet Society.
Family was especially important to her, as she regularly kept in touch with all her relatives. After her children left home, her love for her family led her to take a genealogy course at the vocational-technical college in Watertown and she began her lifelong passion for family history. She located family members as far-flung as Wales, UK, and corresponded with them until her death
Those left to honor her memory include her children, Joan (Stephen) Farr of Sioux City, James (Brenda) Smith of Imperial, Calif., and Michael Smith of Sioux City; eight grandchildren, Jason Smith, Cody Smith, Heidi Lorenzen, Jacob Smith, Caleb Smith, AJ Smith, James Smith II and Laura Jane Farr; and five great-grandchildren; 3 sisters-in-law, Sarah West, Patty Lynch, Phyllis Waters; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Eleanore was preceded in death by her parents; four brothers; three sisters-in-law, Maude, Iona and Juanita; and husband, Frank.