Buelah Etheline Phelps
April 19, 1919 — June 14, 2015
Buelah Etheline Phelps was born on April 19, 1919 to Gordon and Lillie (Anderson) Cowan in a sod house on the family homestead in Tryon, Nebraska, with her grandmother acting as midwife. The family moved to Manville, Wyoming where she started school.
During the Great Depression, her family moved to Marshfield, Missouri in a covered wagon that was built by her father. They camped by rivers and once stayed on an Indian Reservation. Once they reached her grandmother’s house, they continued to stay in the wagon until her father built a small home for them. A few years later, the family moved to Arkansas where Buelah continued to help in the fields and with her younger siblings.
On April 12, 1940, she was united in marriage to Paul Smith in Arkansas. They became parents to five children: Gordon, Paul, Jack, Diane, and Suzanne. Buelah enjoyed being a housewife and mother. After her children were older, she began working at a hospital. She later worked in a nursing home and did private patient care for twenty years.
Buelah and Wayne Phelps married on November 25, 1970 and lived on a farm in Rocky Comfort, Missouri, where they shared a love of horses. They lived there through retirement in 1984 and in later years, moved to Neosho, Missouri and lived with her eldest daughter Diane. Wayne passed away in 2009 and Buelah started living with each of her daughters until the last couple of years when circumstances determined she remain with Suzanne and Larry in Defiance, Iowa.
It was at their residence in Defiance that she died on Sunday, June 14, 2015 having attained the age of ninety-six years, one month, and twenty-six days. She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands Paul and Wayne, grandson Darrin Smith, and brothers and sisters: James Cowan, Betty Cowan, Mary Waterman and her husband Bill, Geraldine Southard and her husband Clifford, Carol Cowan, Dennis Cowan, and Sharon Cowan.
She is survived by her children: Gordon Smith and his wife Rena of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Paul Smith and his wife Nancy of Las Vegas, Nevada, Jack Smith and his wife Wanda of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Diane Patterson of Neosho, Missouri, and Suzanne and her husband Larry Patterson of Defiance, Iowa; seven grandchildren; thirteen great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; sisters Donna Maynard of Flippen, Arkansas and Connis and her husband David Osborn of Somerset, Texas; brother Timothy Cowan and his wife Sharon of Rural Retreat, Virginia; sister-in-law Phyllis Cowan of Neosho; and many nieces, nephews, and friends.
Funeral Services will be held at a later date with family and friends with burial in Rocky Comfort, Missouri.
During the Great Depression, her family moved to Marshfield, Missouri in a covered wagon that was built by her father. They camped by rivers and once stayed on an Indian Reservation. Once they reached her grandmother’s house, they continued to stay in the wagon until her father built a small home for them. A few years later, the family moved to Arkansas where Buelah continued to help in the fields and with her younger siblings.
On April 12, 1940, she was united in marriage to Paul Smith in Arkansas. They became parents to five children: Gordon, Paul, Jack, Diane, and Suzanne. Buelah enjoyed being a housewife and mother. After her children were older, she began working at a hospital. She later worked in a nursing home and did private patient care for twenty years.
Buelah and Wayne Phelps married on November 25, 1970 and lived on a farm in Rocky Comfort, Missouri, where they shared a love of horses. They lived there through retirement in 1984 and in later years, moved to Neosho, Missouri and lived with her eldest daughter Diane. Wayne passed away in 2009 and Buelah started living with each of her daughters until the last couple of years when circumstances determined she remain with Suzanne and Larry in Defiance, Iowa.
It was at their residence in Defiance that she died on Sunday, June 14, 2015 having attained the age of ninety-six years, one month, and twenty-six days. She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands Paul and Wayne, grandson Darrin Smith, and brothers and sisters: James Cowan, Betty Cowan, Mary Waterman and her husband Bill, Geraldine Southard and her husband Clifford, Carol Cowan, Dennis Cowan, and Sharon Cowan.
She is survived by her children: Gordon Smith and his wife Rena of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Paul Smith and his wife Nancy of Las Vegas, Nevada, Jack Smith and his wife Wanda of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Diane Patterson of Neosho, Missouri, and Suzanne and her husband Larry Patterson of Defiance, Iowa; seven grandchildren; thirteen great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; sisters Donna Maynard of Flippen, Arkansas and Connis and her husband David Osborn of Somerset, Texas; brother Timothy Cowan and his wife Sharon of Rural Retreat, Virginia; sister-in-law Phyllis Cowan of Neosho; and many nieces, nephews, and friends.
Funeral Services will be held at a later date with family and friends with burial in Rocky Comfort, Missouri.
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