Geraldine "Gerry" Smith

Geraldine E. Smith “Gerry” passed away peacefully on Saturday September 16th at Sacred Heart Home in Hyattsville at age 100. Gerry was born November 26, 1916 in Toledo, Ohio to Merlin D. Pruden and Florence L. Gray. She graduated from the Riverside Hospital School of Nursing in Toledo in 1938 at the top of her class. In 1940, she married Claude A. Smith, DVM, and moved to Hyattsville in 1949. She was a lifelong nurturing member of the community: serving as a Civil Defense Coordinator during the duck and cover era, substituting for teachers in local elementary schools, teaching Sunday School for fifty-two years and serving on various committees at the First Baptist Church of Hyattsville and University Baptist Church, being cookie chair for Girls Scouts Troop, raising a loving family and during the last eighteen months of her life, sharing care and friendship with her fellow residents and staff at Sacred Heart Home. She loved gardening and flowers. She survived her husband, half-sister Gladys Collins and two brothers, Thomas Ward and Merlin James. She is survived by her three children Claudia M (Tony Langbehn), Gary A (Jeanette) and Jack D (Davina); her five grandchildren Danielle Bostick (Dan), Jared (Chrissy), Crista, Brie and Ashley Francis (Paul); her six great grandchildren Liliana, Francesca, Benjamin and Juliette Schaefer and Oscar and Felix Francis; and friend Peter Whitten. Donations can be made to University Baptist Church in College Park, First Baptist Church of Hyattsville or Sacred Heart Home.  A inurnment for Dr. and Mrs. Claude Smith with be held at George Washington Cemetery, Adelphi, MD on Saturday, November 4, 2017 at 10 AM followed by a memorial service at University Baptist Church, 3515 Campus Drive, College Park, MD at 11 AM. Reception to follow