Forrest R. Smith, 92, of Allen, died Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022 at the Wakefield Health Care Center in Wakefield.
Services will be held Friday, Jan. 28 at 10:30 a.m. at the First Lutheran Church in Allen. Visitation will be held Thursday, Jan. 27 from 5 until 7 p.m. with a prayer service at 7 p.m. at the First Lutheran Church of Allen. Burial with military honors will be at the Eastview Cemetery of Allen. Memorials are suggested to the family for future designation.
Bressler-Munderloh-Smith Funeral Home of Wakefield is in charge of the arrangements.
Forrest R. Smith was born October 27, 1929, the son of Roscoe and Minnie (Zechin) Smith at the Wakefield Hospital in Wakefield. He was a graduate of Allen High School. Forrest began farming with an International two-row planter pulled by a WD Allis-Chalmers. He enjoyed watching today’s 300 horsepower tractors pulling a 16-row planter and riding in the combine watching the yield monitor. Forrest’s most memorable birthday was on a troop train heading to Fort Ord, California, for basic training in the United States Army in October of 1951. He went to South Korea in April of 1952 and was discharged in 1953. On Aug. 7, 1955, Forrest married Norma Linafelter at First Lutheran Church in Allen.
He was a 23-year survivor of a double kidney transplant. He never let it hold him back. He enjoyed square dancing, helping with Meals on Wheels, drinking coffee, and visiting with his friends.
Survivors include his daughter, Cathy (Rick) Macke of Norfolk; son, Ricki (Joy) Smith of Allen; three grandchildren, Jennifer (Craig) Topil, Aaron (Caitlin) Smith and Whitney Smith (fiancé Jose Betancourt); great-grandchildren, Bailey, Brooklynn, and Blake Topil, Lennox and Dawson Smith; sisters-in-law, Pharyce Eslick of Jackson, Tommie (Lloyd) Aulie of Fllint, Texas; brother-in-law, Leonard Linafelter of Omaha; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Norma, on June 10, 2012; his brother, Foster; sister, Janice.
