- Date Of Birth: June 17, 1919
- Date Of Death: May 21, 2018
- State: Illinois
Myrtle M. Smith, 98, long-time teacher at Kelly Avenue School in Peoria Heights and even longer resident of Spring Bay Road, East Peoria, died on Monday, May 21, 2018, at 4:25 p.m. in Metamora. Myrtle was born June 17, 1919, on the family farm on the Little Wabash River near Crossville, Illinois, the youngest child of Jacob and Victoria (Barnes) Slankard. She married H. Herschel Smith on April 2, 1938, in Henderson, Kentucky, and they soon moved to East Peoria, or, as she termed it, she “escaped” southern Illinois. Four children soon followed before Herschel was drafted into the Army during WW II. After his return from the Army, they bought land near Spring Bay, named it “Sandy Acres,” and there she resided for the next 70 years.
Following her husband’s heart attack in 1962, Myrtle enrolled at Bradley University as a first-time college student. While working full-time as chief cook at Riverview Grade School and raising two young grandchildren, she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Bradley University (1967). She began teaching fourth grade at Kelly Avenue School later that year and remained there until retiring in 1987. A born and devoted teacher, she intuitively understood the importance of a child’s self-esteem long before the term entered public consciousness.
Myrtle followed politics and current events closely. She may have been one of the few persons to have shaken the hands of both Eleanor Roosevelt and Barack Obama. She maintained a strong and independent disposition, possessed an uncanny ability to strike up lengthy conversations with strangers, and had a politician’s gift for remembering names.
She is survived by one daughter, Shirley Miller of East Peoria; three sons, Larry (Jill) Smith of Yorkville, IL, Roger (Janice) Smith of East Peoria, and Lee Smith of Peoria; nine grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; and daughter-in-law, Corrine Smith of Anchorage, Alaska. Myrtle was preceded in death by her husband, Herschel, in 1989, sister, Mary, of Mt. Vernon, IL, son, Bill “Corky” Smith of Anchorage, Alaska, and grandson Michael of Washington. Her grandchildren and great-grandchildren carry on her legacy.
