Elva Smee

DEXTER - Elva Marie Smee, 89, died Dec. 30, 2011, at the Cypress Point Skilled Nursing Center in Dexter.

Born April 3, 1922, in Stoddard County to the late George Lewis Gaines and Rachel Winemiller Gaines, she was a member of the Friendship Baptist Church in Dexter and the former co-owner of George's Freeze Queen in Bernie and Grandpa's Barbecue in Dexter with her husband, George Smee.

On Oct, 5, 1939, at Bloomfield, she married George Franklin Smee, who survives of the home.

Other survivors include: three sons and daughter-in-laws, Stephen and Mary Smee of Calvert City, Ky., Stanley and Lois Smee of Jackson and Gary and Linda Smee of Mountain City, Texas: one daughter and son-in-law, Sharon and Rondell Smee of Bernie: two sisters, Anna Mae Stanfill of Louisville, Ky., and Ola Faye Gilkey of Dexter; nine grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by three sisters, Wanda Smith, Velma Grindstaff and Pearl Gaines, and one brother in infancy.

Visitation is from 9:30-11 a.m. Tuesday at the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter where services are at 11 a.m. The Rev. Lonny Mittag will officiate.

Burial will follow in the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery at Bloomfield.