Marvin Smith 1927-2022
Marvin E. Smith, 94, of Topeka, passed away on June 23, 2022.
He was born Aug. 19, 1927, at Christ Hospital, Topeka, the son of W. Edwin and Erma Issacs Smith. He grew up in the Hoyt community and graduated from Hoyt Rural High School in 1945. He attended Kansas State University from 1947 to 1951 and graduated in May of 1951. While at K-State, he was a member of the Livestock Judging Team that placed first in the nation in 1950.
He married Shirley Joanne Voelker on Aug. 4, 1951, at the home of her parents, Paul and Wilma Holt Voelker, of Hoyt, by his brother-in-law the Rev. Harold Brown.
He taught the Veterans on the Farm class at Friends University in Wichita from August 1951 to August 1952. He was a teacher of Vocational Agriculture and FFA Advisor at Seaman High School from September 1952 to May of 1965. He was elected to the first Unified School District 345 school board and served as a school board member from April 1965 until 1975. In November 1980, he was elected to represent the 50th district of Kansas in the House of Representatives from 1980 until 1994.
Marvin and Shirley moved to the present farm they named Sunnyside in April 1955 in northeast Shawnee County. They operated a Grade A dairy for 25 years with the help of their children. They since have had a beef cow/calf herd of Angus cows.
He was a member of Hoyt Baptist Church, Shawnee County Farm Bureau and Kansas Livestock Association. Marvin and Shirley were selected and received the Kansas Master Farmer and Master Farm Homemaker award in 1988.
Marvin is survived by his wife, Shirley; children, Connie Jean Smith, Topeka, Ben (Ramona) Smith, Topeka, Donna Marie Amend, Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. and Jim (Elizabeth) Smith, Winter Garden, Fla.; six grandchildren, Jennifer (Al) Davis, Curt Hermann, Brandon (Leah) and Blake (Melissa) Smith, Brock (Laura) and Chanel Smith (Elijah); nine great-grandchildren; nephew, Bob Brown, and niece, Linda (H.D.) McCarty.
Marvin was preceded in death by their daughter, Judy Ann, in 1961, his infant siblings, Wilbur and Mary Alice, his parents, Erma and Edwin, and his sister, Helen Marie Brown.
His funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 29 at Chapel Oaks Funeral Home in Hoyt. Burial will follow in the Hoyt Cemetery. Marvin will lie in state after 9 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home where visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Memorials are suggested to Jackson County 4-H, Shawnee County 4-H or the KSU Livestock Judging Team. Online condolences may be made at chapeloaksfuneralhome.com
(PAID OBITUARY)
