Ethel M. Smith

Smith, Ethel M. 97 of Wichita, died June 4, 2007. Memorial Services will be Friday, June 15, 2007, 3:00 p.m., Larksfield Place retirement center auditorium. Services will also be held Saturday, June 16, 2:00 p.m., at Wilson and Sons Funeral Home in Louisburg, KS. Burial will follow at Louisburg Cemetery. Survivors include sons, Robert W. Smith of Shawnee, KS and Richard A. Smith of Salida. CO; daughter, Mary Ann Tunney of New York; 7 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren. Throughout her life, Ethel championed the possibilities of women to make a difference, and she encouraged both men and women to become more actively involved in all levels of government. For more than five decades, she was a leader in city and state affairs and was the first woman named to the Wichita planning commission. Her leadership in groups promoting voting registration, excellence in education, and a broader study of world and public affairs resulted in visits to the White House to see Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1957 and Richard Nixon in 1971. She spoke at conferences in New York and Washington and the United Nations. Born Ethel Mable Hornbuckle on a farm in Miami County, she was the only child in a pioneering family. She graduated from Paola High School and attended the University of Kansas, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1932. She earned a Masters degree in European History and Education from the University of Wichita. Her husband, Wichita attorney Paul V. Smith, died in 1976. In 1957, Ethel became the first woman to sit on the 17 member Wichita City Planning Commission. She served on the Community Planning Council and the Coalition Planning Board. She chaired a committee to develop a plan for a major coalition effort in the city to ensure economic security. She served on the citys Human Relations Committee the task force to inaugurate community action programs. She was acquainted with virtually every governor of Kansas, regardless of political affiliation, and received dozens of awards for community and state service. As president of both the Wichita and the Kansas State League of Women Voters, she led special studies of the state revenue system and fair employment practices. Ethel helped found one of the first homes for abused women in Wichita and presided as president or board member of Monica House for 16 years, directing aid for young women in need. She was a founding member of the Legal Aid Board and a docent of the Wichita Art Museum for 18 years. She served terms as president of many community groups including the Young Womens Christian Association, P.E.O., a philanthropic organization aimed at supporting womens education, and the American Association of University of Women. She was a member of Wichitas East Heights United Methodist Church. In her 70s, she joined Friendship Force, an organization whose mission is to promote international understanding. By age ninety, her last year of overseas travel, she had visited six continents and had gone around the world several times. In lieu of flowers memorials donations may be made in Ethels name to Sunflower Lane/Larksfield Place, 7373 E. 29th North, Wichita, KS 67226. Downing Lahey East Mortuary. Services will also be held Saturday, June 16, 2:00 p.m., at Wilson and Sons Funeral Home in Louisburg, KS. Burial will follow at Louisburg Cemetery.