The Smiths live at Girdler in a quiet and close-knit neighborhood.
The Smiths raised seven children that many of you may know.
Lorene Jones of Girdler is the oldest girl, followed by Rachel Callebs.
Rachel thought her mom and dad may be the oldest living couple and gave
me a call to come out and meet her parents. Besides it's not every day that
your mother turns 95 and still has her husband. Pauline Cooper is another
sister who passed away a few years ago. Daughter Sally Smith lives in
Bimble and June Gambrell, the baby girl, lives in Rising Sun, Ind.
The boys are Oakley Smith, of Norwood, Ohio, and Ralph Smith of Girdler.
John L. and Flora have 16 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.

John and his brothers had three sawmills going at one time and raised
cattle. He also worked in the coalmines. Hard work had been his trademark.
"Dad was an honest man. One thing I can say good about him is his honesty,"
Lorene said. "He always sent us to school. He made sure that we went to
school all seven of us. I am so happy about that. You don't do too good
without an education in this world." From what I gathered,
they were all doing well in retirement.

John's memory is failing him now, but from listening to his children, he was
once quite the storyteller. The Smith home is a happy home, with lots of
pictures around. We talked in the kitchen and the family sure made me feel
welcome and at home. It was nice that Father's Day and their mom's
birthday were coming back-to-back, and that they both were still with them.
You could sense that the children felt blessed in every sense of the word.
I felt blessed indeed. Enlarge my territory ----
took me to Girdler this week where I met another fine Knox County family.
It is the best part of my job.