Class of 1943
1943 Graduation EditionPerry Daily Journal
Billy Smith
Planning to enroll at Oklahoma A. and M. college when he receives his diploma at PHS, Billy Smith is the 16-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Smith, 413, Ivanhoe.
He has lived in Perry 15 years and was born at Garber.
Billy went out for football and basketball briefly during his high school years, but most of his time out of classes has been spent as a Journal carrier-salesman and an employee of The Journal mechanical department.
Billy attended grade school at Lone Elm and in Perry.
William Taylor “Bill” Smith
July 16, 1926 – December 17, 2002
William T. “Bill” Smith, of Perry, Oklahoma, was the son of Riley and Gladys (Diebold) Smith. He died at 8:39 p.m. Tuesday, December 17, 2002, at Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
He was a graduate of Perry High School and attended the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.
On September 5, 1981, he and the former Lila Johnson were married in Perry, Oklahoma.
He was a rural mail carrier for the United States Postal service in Perry, was a member of the Elks Lodge, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Moose Lodge. He loved to dance to big band music and was an avid reader. He was a member of the First Baptist Church. He was a veteran of the United States Army and was a World War II POW.
Funeral services will be at 2:00 p.m. Friday, December 20, 2002, at the First Baptist Church in Perry. Rev. Buddy Hunt and Rev. Dewayne Finley will officiate. Interment will be in Grace Hill Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association or the charity of the donor’s choice.
In addition to his wife, Lila, of the home, survivors are three daughters, Janice Kay Dolezal, and her husband, Dick, Longview, Texas, Becky Perkins, Tyler, Texas, and Lisa Fuller and her husband, Roger, Ftisco, Texas; two sons, Tim Johnson and his wife, Cheryl, and Dan Johnson and his wife, Autumn, all of Branson, Missouri; his mother, Gladys Smith, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; one sister, Geneva Skinner and her husband, Leon, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Two children, Chanda Smith and Jerri Pat McCracken, his father, Riley Smith, and brother, Riley Smith Jr., all preceded him in death.