Lillian Marie Smith

On August 30th, 2016 Lillian Marie Smith answered the call to be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She passed away peacefully in Meridian, Idaho at the age of 83. From a family of eight children, Lillian was born on December 1st, 1932 in Vernon, Texas to the late Oswald and Ella (Schoppa) Zoch. Her maternal ancestry can actually be traced back to her great grandparents Michael and Maria Schoppa of Spreewitz, Prussia (now present day Germany) who made the trans-Atlantic voyage to America in 1868 aboard the three-masted sailing ship “Bark Texas” in search of a better life for them and their young children. Lillian is a 1951 graduate of Lockett High School where she played in the girls’ basketball league. This passion for competitive sports eventually led her into playing on a women’s volleyball league later on in life. She married the late Tommy Joe Smith on May 11th, 1957 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Vernon, Texas. The newly-married couple then relocated to Long Beach, California where her husband was stationed in the navy and a few years later settled down in the Glendale-La Crescenta area north of Los Angeles. Lillian is preceded in death by her parents Oswald and Ella Zoch; husband Tommy Joe Smith; and sisters Alice Baker, Gertrude Cayce, Elizabeth Bryant, Evelyn Zinni, and Madeline Knippa. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Mickey and Sharon Smith of Meridian, Idaho; son Richard Smith of Pasadena, California; two brothers Milton (Jack) Zoch of Grand Saline, Texas and Roger Zoch of Kingsville, Texas; along with several nephews and nieces and a vast number of cousins from the Schoppa family bloodline. A memorial service celebrating Lillian’s life in Vernon will be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Friday, September 16th, 2016 at 11am, 4405 Hospital Drive, Vernon, Texas (940) 552-2495.