Flora Lee Arthur Smith died on 21 Aug 1990 in a hospital in Beckley, Raleigh County, W.Va., after a short illness. She was born on 19 Sep 1895 in Turkey Knob, Fayette County, W.Va., a daughter of Charles William Arthur and Caroline "Carrie" Janney Arthur.

She spent her childhood on the Old Arthur Farm at Dry Hill, Raleigh County. Mrs. Smith and her husband Charles Ota (C.O.) Smith Sr., who she married in 1915, raised their nine children in their home in Shady Spring, Raleigh County. During the last three years of her life, she made her home with her daughter Marie Richmond in Beckley.

Mrs. Smith's childhood home was the subject of a 1977 article in The Raleigh Register, a Beckley newspaper: "Forgotten Americana – 109-Year-Old Farm Defies Urban Sprawl."

Mrs. Smith received a teaching certificate from Beckley Institute in 1913. She taught grades 1-8 in one-room schools in the Richmond District of Raleigh County, including the John Hoye School at Pluto. Mrs. Smith was a Baptist.

She was preceded in death by her husband, who died on 13 Dec 1978, three brothers and two sisters.

Mrs. Smith was survived by 105 descendants including nine children, Charles O. Smith Jr., Dempsey Rudolph Smith, Jesse Sebird Smith, Robert Noel Smith, Louella Ethel Smith Goodson, Juanita Flora Smith Fitzgerald, Carrie Eileen Smith Mann, June Elizabeth Smith Westfall, and Rachel Marie Smith Richmond; 38 grandchildren; 48 great-great grandchildren and 10 great-great grandchildren. She was also survived by brother Earl Arthur and sister Daisy Treadway.

Funeral services were held in the Melton Mortuary Chapel in Beckley with the Rev. Stuart Fitzgerald, a grandson, officiating. Grandsons served as pallbearers. Burial was in Sunset Memorial Park in Beckley.

SOURCES: "Flora L. Smith survived by 105," The Register Herald, Beckley, W.Va. Newsclip undated; "Forgotten Americana – 109-Year-Old Farm Defies Urban Sprawl," by Barbara Grubb, photo by Ron Rutledge, The Raleigh Register, Beckley, W.Va., 25 Oct 1977, Page 9 of the Second News Front section.
Information courtesy of E.M. Smith #47134804