Ardella Avis (Payne) Smith

Ardella Avis Smith, of Vincennes, started her heavenly journey with our creator on March 2, 2023.

Ardella Avis (Payne) Smith was born on Oct. 31, 1934, to Snowful and Millard Payne of Bicknell.

Those left to mourn the loss of Ardella include her children, Terry Donnell, Linda (Alan) Williams,(Sandy) Heath, David (Cindy) Heath, Teresa (Mark) Wiener, and Ardella Sue (David) Munday; 16 grandchildren, Tonya, Kenny, Robert, Rick, Fallon, Keri, Haley, Stevie, DJ, Ashley, Amber, Heather, Jessica, Casey, Cody and Melinda; 28 great-grandchildren; 10 great-great-grandchildren; siblings, Carolyn Payne, Betty Racey, Ruthy Bryant, Zuella Stremming and Wesley Payne; and 35 nieces and nephews who loved their Aunt Ardella dearly and were very close to her.

She is preceded in death by her parents; children, Debbie Donnell and Steven Heath; and siblings, Joan Rall, Arthur Payne, John David Payne and Daniel Payne.

She enjoyed talking to her sisters and brother, but couldn’t talk very long because she would be short winded. She enjoyed going to church, being with family, traveling, working puzzles, playing cards, and yard sales.

A member of Calvary Apostolic Church in Lawrenceville, Illinois, she taught her children to recite the 23rd Psalm.

She was born to a Heavenly mother who saw to it that her children went to church and church camps.

She had met Don Donnell and was blessed with three children, Debbie who died as a baby, Terry who fought in the Vietnam War and blessed her with three grandchildren, and Linda who blessed her with four grandchildren. Linda's husband, Alan, would drop by coffee and donuts on Friday morning. Linda would cook and Alan would take her food down to her.

Her granddaughter, Tonya, was a nurse and would always stop in to check up on her.

After having a difficult life, she met Roger Heath in Lawrenceville, where they had three children, Steven who went to be with lord in his 50s and way too soon, blessed her with two grandchildren, David who was always fixing mom's car and blessed her with four grandchildren, and Teresa who blessed her with three grandchildren. Teresa even built a house with a room for her to live in Rogersville, Missouri, which is where she went to begin her journey with the Lord. Mark sent her to visit her sister, Joan, in Arizona and that is where all of her traveling days started by Greyhound bus and even by plane.

She met Billy Dale Robertson at her sister’s house playing cards and together they were blessed with one child. She named her Ardella Sue, who would come and get her to take her shopping, eating out, and staying for weeks on end in Elberfeld. They were great travel buddies going to Panama City, Florida, Springfield and Rogersville.

She loved her kids, grandkids and all of her families.

She loved talking on the phone with her kids every day. She would even just call to say “hi! I love you! and bye” in less than 5 minutes because she knew they had a busy life. Everyone always made time for mom. Even if it was the same stories repeated, but we still listened as though we were hearing it for the very first time.

She loved going to her sister Carolyn’s to play cards and games. Her sister Betty would come and pick her up from Vincennes and would take her back to Elberfeld where they spent time going to bingo and playing cards. She gave her life to Christ at Calvary Apostolic where she met her companion of 14 years, Les Harlan.

Her plans on the future were bright. She was to be moving to Rogersville, where Teresa was planning on hitting the open road to Columbia, Tennessee, to visit her sister, Carolyn, who is also too ill to travel, and then to visit her sister, Ruthy, who lives in Florida and is too ill to travel.

She was looking forward to spending her mornings out on the deck overlooking the woods drinking her coffee.

This past week she went to JCPenney and bought an Easter dress. She enjoyed dinner at Lambert’s Cafe.

She continued her walk with Jesus on Thursday, March, 2023, in Rogersville.

Services for Ardella Smith will be held at 1 p.m. CST on Saturday at Calvary Apostolic Church with visitation from 11 a.m. CST until the time of service. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery.

The family appreciates and thanks everyone for all of the kind words, prayers, loves, hugs, and everything in between.

In lieu of flowers, the family would greatly appreciate any contributions towards funeral expenses. She will be greatly missed, but always remembered.

Fredrick and Son McClure-Utt Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with the care of Mrs. Ardella Smith.

The family welcomes online condolences to be left at www.fredrickandson.com.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Ardella Avis (Payne) Smith, please visit our floral store.