Lola Jane Smith

Lola J. (Nation) Smith, 97, Independence, MO entered her Heavenly home October 25, 2024. Services will be 10:00 AM on Friday, November 1, 2024, at Speaks Suburban Chapel, 18020 E. 39th St., Independence, MO 64055. Committal service will follow at 1:00 PM at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Higginsville. Visitation will be 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM. Lola was born on January 23, 1927, in Weston, MO, the daughter of Louie and Mary E. (Blakley) Nation. She attended school in Glasgow, MO. Lola worked at Sears where she met, and later married, the love of her life, Hollis Smith. She later began working as a secretary at Lake City Army Ammunition plant and retired in 1985 after 33 years of service. They have two children, Hollis “Gene” Eugene and Linda Jane. She was a charter member of the Bethel Baptist Church in Independence, MO, having attended there for forty-seven years prior to transferring to Country Meadow Baptist Church, then to Coventry Estates Baptist Church. Lola was preceded in death by her parents, husband of seventy years, brother George Nation and his wife Barbara, sister Lillie Holst and her husband Dewey, sister Augusta Morris and her husband Harold, and son-in-law Brendan Miley. She is survived by her son Gene Smith and wife Sandy, Fayette, MO; daughter Linda Miley, Independence, MO; grandchildren David Miley and wife Cody, Jonathan Miley and wife Crystal, Joshua Miley, Douglas Smith and wife Emily, and Trisha Lewis and husband Randy; twelve great-grandchildren, seven great-great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.