To request a copy of this photo for your own personal use, please contact our state coordinator. If you are not a family member or the original photographer — please refrain from copying or distributing this photo to other websites.
Thank you for visiting the Missouri Gravestone Photo Project. On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Missouri, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 10/19/14 • Approved: 10/28/14 • Last Updated: 4/19/18 • R758181-G0-S3
Mar 29, 1910
Dec 26, 1999
Parents:
Rufus Montana Smyer (1880 - 1962)
Justina May Varnell Smyer (1885 - 1949)
The Rev. Payton Hubert Smyer, 89, was born March 29, 1910, near Lundy in Texas County. He died Dec. 26, 1999 at St. John's Regional Health Center in Springfield after a long bout with Alzheimer's. He married Pearl Sigman Dec. 11, 1939, in West Plains. They had four daughters. Rev. Smyer spent his lifetime in this area. He gave his heart to Christ and in the '30's started his ministry of more than 56 years. In the early days of his ministry, times were hard working only by faith and his desire to help people know Jesus. Some of the churches he pastored were Fairview, Antioch, Cabool and Houston Free will Baptist; New Rock Springs, Cabool New Testament, Bado, Steeley Chapel, Pleasant Grove, Oakdale and Big Creek. He preached numerous funerals and revivals touching an untold number of lives. The Smyers spent most of their life on the farm in the Elk Creek community. He enjoyed his garden, flowers and filling the freezer with fruit and vegetables. In his spare time, he hunted or would walk the Piney with fishing pole in hand. He always enjoyed singing with his family or a community in the church, visiting and reminiscing with friends. He served as a father figure to his younger brothers and sisters. He was preceded in death by his parents; his daughter, Carol Jane; five brothers, Ernest, Homer, Colan, Jimmie and Car Smyer; four sisters, Julia Brixey, Maude Hutsell, Mary Reaves and Masie Carter. Surviving are his wife of more than 60 years; his daughter, Myrna Jent of Venice, Fla., Carla Smyer of Springfield and Colene Hanks of Copley, Summit County, Ohio; three sisters, Ruby Mires, Ruth Massey and Jean Evans of Houston, and two grandchildren. Services were Dec. 29 at the First Free Will Baptist Church in Cabool with the Rev. Russell McDaris officiating. Burial was in the Steeley Chapel Cemetery under the direction of Evans Funeral Home of Houston. Houston Herald, Houston, Mo., Dec. 30, 1999
Contributed on 10/19/14 by mjrwag
Email This Contributor
Suggest a Correction
Record #: 758181