Marvin Smits

          Marvin (Smitty) Smits, 92, of Greeley, formerly of Wolbach went to be with his Lord on Monday, January 02, 2017 at the Howard County Medical Center in St. Paul.

          Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday at the United Methodist Church in Wolbach.  Reverend Martin Leeper will officiate.  Interment will be in Hillside Cemetery in Wolbach with military honors by Ray Mapes American Legion Post #236 of Wolbach.

          Visitation will be on Friday, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at Jacobsen-Greenway Funeral Home in St. Paul.

          Memorials are suggested to the family’s choice.

          Mr. Smits was born December 21, 1924 on a farm north and west of Maurice, Iowa to John and Gerdina (Meylink) Smits.

          He attended Maurice Public School, graduating in May, 1942.  He attended Northwestern College for one semester, then he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in July, 1943.

          Marvin took his basic training at Jefferson Barracks, MO.  He attended College Training at Drake University in Des Moines, IA and then he went to a classification base at Santa Ana, CA where he was assigned to Pilot Primary Training at Dos Palos, CA. in January 1944.

          Marvin went to pilot basic training in Tucson, AZ in March 1944, then to advanced training in Douglas, AZ.  He graduated as a pilot at the rank of 2nd LT in August 1944. 

          Marvin attended a B-17 engineering school at Kingman, AZ.  He was assigned a combat crew in Lincoln, NE and went to the air base in Sioux City, IA for overseas combat training.

          Late December 1944, he and his crew boarded the liner Queen Elizabeth and went to their combat base in Eye, England.  The flew 22 combat missions before the war ended in May, 1945.  He flew two missions to drop food to the Dutch in Amsterdam, Holland and two missions to bring French war prisoners from Austria back to France.

          He met the love of his life in Maurice, IA when he was 14 and Norma Jean Gillespie was 12 years of age.  They became friends and maintained that long distance relationship for many years before being married on August 3, 1945 in Maurice.

          Marvin and Norma were sent to Tampa, FL. Where Smitty was being trained for the Pacific Theater of War.  While they were in Florida, the war in Japan ended on September 12, 1945.

          After being discharged from the service, he and Norma Jean started their life together in Winside, NE where he owned and operated a corn shelling business.

          In April 1950, Smitty started working for Chicago Lumber Company in Winside.  He was transferred to Wolbach in January 1954 to manage the Chicago Lumber Co. there.  While in Wolbach, he and Norma were very active in church, community and school activities.  In August 1969, he transferred to the Chicago Lumber Co. head office in Omaha.  He continued there until his retirement in 1986.

          After Norma’s retirement in 1992 they moved to St. Paul.  In July 2010, they moved back to Wolbach and lived there until Smitty entered the Greeley Care Home in February 2016 and Norma moved to Greeley to be near him.

          Besides his wife of 71 years, Norma Jean, he is survived by two daughters and a son-in-law, Mary Wadsworth of Wolbach and Beverly and Jim Foote of Ralston; and a son and daughter-in-law and Jack and Rita Smits of Ashland.  He was also blessed with 7 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.

          He is preceded in death by his parents; one grandchild, Tina Rozmiarek; two great-grandchildren, D.J. Foote and Abby Joe Foote; and ten brothers and sisters and spouses, Arie and Dora Smits, Dora and Dick Haarasma, Jennie and Walt Schruer, Ted and Anna Smits, Dick and Elizabeth Smits, Johanna and John Ruisch, Sue and Bill Jongbloed, William “Smokey” and Caroline Smits, Esther Smits and Elsie Medsker.

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