Elsie Smith

Elsie May (Hancock) Smith was born on December 16, 1935 to Archie and Bertha (Torrance) Hancock in Selman, Oklahoma. She attended school in a one room school called Pleasant Valley through the fourth grade. Her family moved to the farm near Laverne. She completed school at Laverne where she graduated in 1953.

After graduation, she attended business school in Enid, Oklahoma for a semester.

She met Bobby Smith who was home after serving in the United States Army. They eloped to Raton, New Mexico on December 26, 1953. They made their home in Beaver where they welcomed two daughters, Sue and Rhonda.

Elsie was a homemaker and she ran an in-home daycare. She was “Nana” to lots of kids for over thirty years. Her gift was care giving. She loved all of her “Kids” but she also took care of many friends when they needed help. Bobby became ill so she stopped caring for children and became his full-time caregiver. After he passed away, she resumed childcare by keeping her great grandchildren, Kendall, Shaylee and Collin Cline.

Elsie loved sports and watching her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren play sports. All four of her grandchildren attended school at Turpin, Oklahoma so she and Bobby became Turpin Cardinal fans for several years. After Clay graduated, they dug out their Beaver Duster gear and became Beaver Dusters again.

Elsie was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Beaver. She loved being in church until her health no longer allowed her to attend. She said “Nobody wanted to listen to her oxygen during services.”

She was preceded in death by her husband; her son-in-law, Mike Smith; her parents; her brothers, Junior Baxter, Billy Hancock; sisters, Mary Crowder, Virginia White, Ila Peacock and infant sister, Judith Hancock.

Elsie passed from this life on Monday, January 2, 2023 in the Beaver County Memorial Hospital.

She is survived by daughters, Sue Smith, Rhonda and Alan Hodges; grandchildren, Ambra Gales, Adam and Mandy Hodges, Camee and Eric Cline and Clay and Lacey Smith; great grandchildren, Grant Gales, Kendall Cline, Shaylee Cline, Grace Gales, Collin Cline, Nolan Smith and Eli Hodges. Elsie is also survived by her sister-in-law, Dovie Smith; her chosen daughter, Sherry Jenkins and her family and many nieces and nephews and friends.

They family suggests memorials to be made to the Beaver County EMS, Beaver County Memorial Hospital or the Beaver Fire Department.