Mable Edna Smith died March 20, 2008. Memorial services were March 27, 2008 at Calvary Bible Church with Don Bertrand officiating. Mrs. Smith was born March 1, 1924 at Lark, Okla., to Robert “Cecil” Laxson and Ellen Ward Laxson. She was the eldest of five children and the only girl.

Mrs. Smith was very proud of her American Indian heritage and had just attended a Chickasaw conference in Oklahoma City last month with her two daughters, brother Lonnie, son Larry and grandchildren, David and Keisha Gonzalez.

To make a great trip spectacular she was interviewed as a respected elder of the Chickasaw Tribe and described her education attending Carter Seminary, a boarding school for girls in Ardmore, Okla. The audio of this interview along with her portrait will travel around the United States to different museums (including the Smithsonian!) and will be permanently displayed in a new Chickasaw museum in Sulphur, Okla., when completed.

She was preceded in death by parents, Cecil and Ellen Laxson; brothers, Jack and Leland Laxson; husband, Raymond Smith; a son, Leslie Smith; son-in-law, Harold Murdock; and a granddaughter, Christy Smith.

She is survived by a large and loving family that includes two brothers and a sister-in-law, Vic and Mary Laxson and Lonnie Laxson; daughters, Edith Murdock, Vickie Gonzalez; sons and daughter-in-laws, Stan and Carolyn Smith, Jim and Dianne Smith, and Larry and Peggy Smith; grandchildren, Mike and Craig Murcodk, Ron and Randall Dyer, Cindy Grider, Brad Smith, Donna Hunter, Cassie Duncan, Matthew Smith, Jennifer, Jason and Amy Smith, David and Keisha Gonzalez, and Teresa Rubio; plus many great and great-great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to Calvary Bible Church, 48 Manor Avenue, Bakersfield, CA in memory of Mable Edna Smith.