Obituary printed in the Sept. 11, 1978 Pilot-Tribune, Blair, Nebraska.

Note: the original headline of the paper was “Dies Monday, Sept. 11” but the tombstone shows Sept. 10, which was a Sunday, and the body of the article also said “Sunday”and so the headline had a typo.

Portrait in paper

Seymour Smith Dies At Omaha Sunday, Sept. 10

Seymour Smith, a Washington County Pioneer of the DeSoto Area, died Sunday afternoon at his home in Omaha following a lengthy illness. By profession, he was an attorney, but his love of Washington County and his special interest in the DeSoto area, was his natural love, which he shared with all friends lavishly.

He was known over the state as an after-dinner speaker and story teller, and most of the stories related to his boyhood or early days in eastern Nebraska. Most of his comments were factual, but Seymour often tucked in some “facts” which left one either wondering or with tongue in cheek.

For many years he was one of the leading figures in the Washington County Old Settlers Association which, traditionally, always met in Ft. Calhoun in August.

He was born at DeSoto April 18, 1893 and was, therefore, 85 years of age. He received his degree in Law at the University of Nebraska in 1924 after having started a career as a farmer. He lived in Lincoln for a time.

He moved to Omaha to practice law where he built up a successful practice and became involved in many civic activities in Omaha. He went on to become a Supreme Court Judge and also, for a number of years, served as City Attorney for the City of Omaha.

He was a past President of the Omaha War Association and has been retired from active practice for a number of years.

Several years ago he was signally honored when a park, named “Seymour Smith Park” was dedicated in his honor in recognition of the many civic endeavors which he had worked for and sponsored.

He is survived by his wife, Addie, by a daughter, Mrs. Bill Beyers of Omaha and a son, Bob Smith, of Springfield, Nebraska. A sister, E. Arline Smith, lives in Omaha. His only brother, Rolland Smith, died only several weeks ago after moving from his lifelong home at DeSoto to Blair.

There are eight grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. at the Roeder Funeral Home in Omaha. Masonic Services will be held at the Blair Cemetery for burial.

~~~Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska. ~~~

FindaGrave Memorial # 117308024