VIOLA BLACKFORD SMITH

Viola Blackford Smith, 101, 1450 Good Hope, died Saturday, Sept. 23, 1995, at the Lutheran Home.

She was born Nov. 27, 1893, in Cape Girardeau, to David Eli and Anna Nenninger Masterson. She married G.W. Blackford on Dec. 19, 1920, in Cape Girardeau, and he died May 30, 1939. She then married Oliver Carl Smith on Dec. 27, 1946, and he died Oct. 30, 1967.

Smith had worked as a sales clerk in the Glenn and Nussbaum Mercantile Stores and Hecht's Store. She was a member of St. Mary's Cathedral Parish and was a lifelong resident of Cape Girardeau County.

She was descended from early pioneer families. Her great-great-grandparents, Robert and Jane Brooks, came to Missouri from Virginia in 1815, and her great-grandfather, Samuel Randol Masterson, came to Missouri from North Carolina in 1825 and began farming in Cape Girardeau County.

When Smith was a child, her family lived in a log cabin built in 1838 by her great-grandfather Greenberry Hobbs on land that is now Lexington Street.

Survivors include two daughters, Marjorie Cord of Rohnert Park, Calif., and Charlotte Behrens of Cape Girardeau; four grandchildren; three great-granddaughters; and two step-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by four brothers and five sisters.

Friends may call from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday at Ford & Sons Mount Auburn Chapel.

The funeral will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the funeral chapel, with Monsignor Richard Rolwing officiating.