Betty Ann Smith

Betty Ann Smith, 64, resident of Nowata, died Thursday evening, Nov. 28, 2013, at her residence. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013, in the Stumpff-Nowata Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Dick Rogers of Bentonville, Ark., officiating. Services and cremation will be directed by the Stumpff-Nowata Funeral Home. Betty Ann Smith was born Jan. 3, 1949, at Nowata, Okla., to Osmond B. and Pauline B. (Oakes) Peck. She was raised and received her education in Nowata, Alluwe, Okla., and Fredonia, Kan. Betty moved to Bentonville, Ark., in 1989, living there until 1991 when she moved to Jane, Mo. She met and married James Ray Smith at Gravette, Ark. They were married on Jan. 15, 1995. They moved back to Nowata, Okla., in September 2012 to be near family. Betty was employed with the transportation department of the Bentonville public schools for over 22 years, retiring in 2012. She had also been employed with the Senior Citizens as the activities director before working with the school system. Survivors include her husband, James Ray Smith, of the family home in Nowata; one daughter, Laura Ann Christon of Wichita, Kansas; two sons Charles F. Epple Jr. of Nowata and James B. Epple of Bartlesville, Okla.; five grandchildren, Tosha L. Hindman, Montana Nuncio, Cheyenne Nuncio Marshall, Calob W. Epple and B.J. Epple; five stepgrandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Betty was preceded in death by her parents and a stepsister, Adela Darlene Peck.