Wayne County Press,
Fairfield IL
Thursday, Feb. 25, 1982
Page 4
Society News

A Rinard couple. Ralph and Elsie Smith, will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Flora Housing Community Center.  The reception will be held between the hours of 2 and 4:30 o'clock. All friends and relatives are invited. Please omit gifts.      Mr. Smith is the son of Virgil Smith and the late Bessie Lee Smith of rural Rinard.  Elsie is the daughter of the late Ernest and Hattie Powell Elliott, who resided in rural Flora.

The couple was married March 1, 1942, at Beulah Methodist Church in Clay County.

Mr. Smith was engaged in farming, was an oil well pumper and school bus  driver.      The Smiths spent all of their married lives in Clay and Wayne County with the exception of 12 years spent in northern Illinois. During this time both Ralph and Elsie worked in Geneva at the House of Correction for Delinquent Boys and Girls.   Mr. Smith was badly injured when he was attacked by an inmate, and they left Geneva July 8, 1977, and returned to Wayne County.

The couple has five children: Robert E., Pat, Jimmy,  Earl, and Kathy.  There are five grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild.