Grace E. Smiley

Age 88. October 4, 1930 to December 25, 2018

Grace passed from this Earth peacefully with her family by her side. A loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

Grace was born and raised in Detroit and graduated from Cooley High School and Wayne State University. While working at a Sanders soda fountain as a teenager she met the love of her life Clinton F. Smiley. They were married September 2, 1950 and moved to Oklahoma while Clinton served in the US Army during the Korean War.

They returned to Michigan and lived in Dearborn where they raised their three children; Vicki (Bob) Migrin, Mark (Michele) Smiley, and Clinton A. (Kathy) Smiley. After all of her children were in school, Grace returned to Wayne State University and obtained her teaching certificate. Grace and Clint were both well-respected teachers in the Dearborn Public Schools (Grace 3rd grade Nowlin, Clint 6th grade Haigh). The family spent joyous and relaxing summers every year at the Otsego Lake, Gaylord cottage starting in 1957. Clint passed from this Earth all too early at age 60 (1990). Grace continued to be the loving, positive, and optimistic center of her family. She travelled the world with the Nomads' Club and visited many National Parks with Vicki, Bob, and their children. Grace was a devout Lutheran, a voracious reader, and loved to visit and talk. She was an indominable, positive spirit and never had a harsh word for or about anyone. Grace's family tree goes back to Miles Standish of the Mayflower, and includes veterans of the Revolutionary War (DAR), the Civil War, and World War II (her father, US Army, Phillipines).

Grace was pre-deceased by her mother, Helen (Waterman) Fergerson (Tuberculosis when Grace was 2 years old), father, Orvin Fergerson, step-mother, Florence Fergerson, and husband, Clinton F. Smiley. She is survived by her brother Orv (Sue) Fergerson, her three children; Vicki, Mark, and Clinton A., their spouses, seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

The family's deepest thanks go to Grace's devoted and loving caregivers at Evangelical House nursing home in Saline, Arbor Hospice, and Sunrise assisted living of Northville/Plymouth.

Visitation at Howe-Peterson Funeral Home, Dearborn on Thursday (27th) 4:00 to 8:00, and Friday (28th) 9:00 to 11:00, with funeral service Friday at 11:00, followed by burial at Grandlawn Cemetery, Detroit, in the Smiley/Vetal plot.

Donations to Arbor Hospice in Grace's memory preferred form of charity.