James Everell Smith

James Smith, loving father, hard working entrepreneur, knowledge seeker, travel lover ended his earthly journey on Dec. 6, 2024. Born to Everell and Mary Smith in 1954, he remained a lifelong Catholic until his death. He was proud of his close knit family and strived to live the principles that he grew up with of tolerance, charity and love for community. 

 He was married to Jody (Josephine) Larkin and was a proud father to three children: Stacey Pyeatt (Kevin), Heidi Linn (Peter), and Eric Smith (Callie) and they in turn blessed him with 11 grandchildren. All the grandchildren (Fiona, Peter, James, Kate, Evie, Evan, Warren, Liam and Henry and Cassie Smith (Josh) and Aurora Sayad (Logan) will remember him for his love of lake fun and ski trips and working around their houses. 

He believed that being involved in your community was the price you paid for the space you occupy and lived that value through organizations such as Rotary, Knights of Columbus, Salvation Army, Boy Scouts as well as giving to Project Safe, Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art and countless other groups. As a Boy Scout, James was 6 merit badges away from Eagle Scout, which was one of his personal disappointments in life but through his commitment and service he was awarded the Silver Beaver Award as an adult. 

 An entrepreneur from an early age, he started many businesses—a mail order catalog as a child, a car wash, a small real estate company and finally after graduating with a degree in Finance from Northern Illinois University, he found his forever business home with Edward Jones in 1986 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He knocked on many of Pottawatomie county’s doors, introducing himself as the new investment guy in town. He built an ethical and profitable business with clients that entrusted their hard earned money with him and he never took lightly that trust they put in him. He was blessed with many fantastic clients and was just starting to enjoy the retirement that he had achieved. 

 He was always learning, whether through a documentary movie or reading the newspaper and didn’t seem to forget a fact once learned. He enjoyed art, whether at the Louvre, or Vatican or at Mabee Gerrer in Shawnee and music, whether at the Philharmonic in OKC or a sidewalk cafe in any European town. Always to be accompanied with a choice glass of wine and a cheese cube or two. He was intrigued with photography and pickleball—finding the perfect light or spin on the ball kept his mind active until fate intervened. 

 He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Catherine Grimm. He is survived by his immediate family and his siblings Peter T Smith (Sandy), Adrienne Brennan (Mike),Cecilia Marcinkovich (Kerry), Therese Laskowski (Jim), Kennard Grimm and numerous nieces and nephews. 

 The family would like to thank Dr. Scott Stewart and Dr. Gaynell Anderson and Cohesive Hospice for their care, encouragement and support while Jim battled Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease the last weeks of his life. Their wisdom, forthrightness and advice in the face of an untreatable and fatal disease made this journey a little easier. It is unfortunate that this one in a million disease found our ‘one in a million’ man. 

 Visitation will be Dec 13th from 4-6 pm at Walker Funeral Home with funeral on Sat. Dec 14th at 9:30 a.m. at St Benedict Catholic Church. Burial to follow at Calvary Cemetery. 

 In lieu of flowers or if inspired, make a donation to the charity of your choice in his name, in order to make the world a better place.