Lela Mae Smith, 96, of Memphis, Missouri, passed away April 26, 2018, at the Bluffs Care Center in Columbia, Missouri.

She was born June 6, 1921, in Scotland County, near Downing, Missouri, to Adron Talmadge Moore and Delia Alice Drake Moore.

Lela graduated from Downing High School with the class of 1939.

She married Chester Lee Smith on December 28, 1943. Lela was employed at the Bank of Memphis for a short time before they were married. They began their married life in San Francisco, California, where Lela worked for Bank of America until Chester received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1945. Relocating to Wyaconda, Missouri, where Chester and his brother, LeRoy Smith, owned and operated Smith Brothers Farm Supply, she worked at the Peoples Bank of Wyaconda for several years until her retirement in 1981.

Following Lela's retirement, she and Chester moved to Osage Beach, Missouri, where they resided for fifteen years. She and her husband then moved to Ft. Myers, Florida, where she enjoyed the year round sunshine and flowers. After Chester became disabled in 2009, they moved back to the Scotland County Care Center in Memphis, Missouri.

She is survived by a sister, Twila Noring, of Des Moines, Iowa; two sons: Dennis Leo Smith, and his wife, Carol, of Lexington, South Carolina; Frederick Lee Smith and his wife, Beverly, of Englewood, Florida and a daughter, Arlys I. Grant and her husband, Roger, of Memphis, Missouri. Also surviving are three grandchildren: Dennis Leo Smith, Jr. and his wife, Sharon; Tory Lee Smith and his wife, Melanie; Dr. Heather Smith Googe and her husband, Randy; a step granddaughter, Daniele Taughinbaugh and her husband, Dave; five great grandchildren: Mason Lee Smith, Carter Lee Smith, Braden Smith, Reagan Smith, Reily Googe and two step great grandchildren: Katie Taughinbaugh and Jeffery Taughinbaugh.

Lela was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of 72 years, Chester Lee Smith; her five brothers: Harry Lee, Freddie Floyd, Aven Paul, James Leo, and Donald Raymond Moore and one sister, Leta Lavon Moore Sims.