Funeral services for Joan Georgia Smith, age 93, of Loveland, Oklahoma, will be at 2:00 p.m., Monday, November 27, 2023, at the First Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Oklahoma, with Pastor Derek McMurtry officiating.  Burial will follow in the Faxon Cemetery under the direction of  Jackson Funeral Home of Frederick.  Mrs. Smith passed away Wednesday morning, November 22, 2023, at her home near Loveland.

Joan Georgia Hellbusch Smith was born July 20, 1930, to William John and Lydia (Harms) Hellbusch at their home east of Frederick.  She graduated from Loveland High School with the Class of 1947.  She continued her education at Cameron College, graduating in 1949. Then she went on to attend Central State College for two years.  Joan was united in marriage to Raymond Smith on May 22, 1949, in Loveland, Oklahoma.

She and Raymond started farming together in 1956.  Raymond preceded her in death on February 1, 1997, but Joan continued to farm until 2020.  She also taught for one year at Weaver School, west of Frederick.  Wherever Raymond was working as a school administrator, Joan would be a substitute teacher, as needed.  Together, they raised their four sons in the Lawton area.  All four boys became Eagle Scouts!  Over the years, the family enjoyed many trips to Colorado.

Joan's faith was very important to her.  She was a member of Sunset / Olivet Baptist Church in Lawton, where she taught Sunday School, was the Sunday School Director, and helped with Vacation Bible School.  In 1990, she became a member of First Baptist Church of Chattanooga. There, she taught the Ladies' Sunday School class, was on the Fellowship Team, was the  Mission Chair of the WMU Women's Missionary Union, and also participated in the Senior Adult Group.

Mrs. Smith is survived by her cousin, Henry Harms; four sons and their wives, Gary Smith and his wife Becky, Kent Smith and his wife Teresa, Brian Smith and his wife Kathy, and Randy Smith and his wife Judy; her grandchildren, Ryan Smith and Whitney James, Tammy Wiser and Cody Guthrie, Amy Smith and her fiancé Mike Seekamp, Andrea Ridgway and her husband Damian, Kevin Smith and his wife Amanda, Brooke Smith, Heather Wheatley and her husband Jeremy, Beth Smith, David Singleton, Pascale Simmons and her husband Kyler, Reagan Smith, and  Riley Smith and his wife Elizabeth,  along with twenty-eight great grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, William and Lydia Hellbusch, and her husband Raymond Smith .

Memorial donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association or to the Raymond L. and Joan G. Smith Scholarship Fund at Oklahoma Baptist University, in loving memory of Joan G. Smith.