James L. Smith

James L. Smith, 87, of Greenfield, passed away Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, at the Community Care Center in Stuart. An open visitation will be held 3-8 p.m. with family to greet friends from 6-8 p.m Tuesday, Oct. 4 at Lamb Funeral Home in Greenfield. Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5 at Greenfield United Methodist Church. Pastor Melinda Stonebraker will officiate the service. Burial will be in Greenfield Cemetery with full military graveside rites conducted by Greenfield American Legion Head-Endres Post No. 265 and V.F.W. Post 5357. A luncheon will be held at the church following the commital services.

The family requests no flowers and memorials may be made to the Jim Smith Memorial Fund to be established by the family at a later date. Online Condolences may be left to the family at www.lambfuneralhomes.com.

James Louis Smith was born Aug. 27, 1935, the son of Norral and Margaret (Jensen) Smith in Adair County, Iowa. Jim was the oldest of six siblings and was known as the “leader of the pack.” He was a great older brother who was kind, caring and compassionate with a good dose of humor thrown in. Jim played football, basketball and ran track in high school and also learned to play the trumpet.

Jim was married to Betty Van Eaton for 65 years. He very much enjoyed his sons, Dan and David, and their Boy Scouts and sport activities. He also enjoyed the many children who came to their home through the years for daycare.

Most men find themselves in a variety of career changes during their adult life but Jim was pretty much dedicated to the printing business, whether it was helping get a newspaper put out or sale bills, booklets, you name it. He was co-owner of Petznick Printing Co. in Creston where David was also employed.

He was known to love a good prank. Jim was usually smiling and was a walking, talking history book of Greenfield and Adair County. This was probably because of his printing the Free Press all of those years ago. He could recall so much detail about so many things. He wrote a book about his family, dedicated to his mother. He loved to watch and feed birds and squirrels, loved the dogs he and Betty had as pets over the years and enjoyed wildlife in general. He often took walks out by the lake to be close to nature, thus, he took many photographs over the years. On the occasional night when the stars or planets put on a show, Jim could be found in the early morning hours on a country road with his telescope viewing the constellations or an eclipse.

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife Betty in 2020; son Daniel Smith and nephew, Jason Smith.

He is survived by his son, David Smith of Greenfield; three sisters, Shirley Jensen of Atlantic, Sharon Sorensen of Corning and Connie Nolan of Lampe, Missouri; two brothers, Robert Smith and Ron Smith of Greenfield; sisters-in-law, Linda Van Eaton of Fontanelle and Patty Nielson of Kansas City, Kansas; many nieces; nephews; relatives and friends.