{"id":208243,"date":"2026-07-26T07:22:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T12:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=208243"},"modified":"2026-07-26T07:23:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T12:23:03","slug":"fredrick-w-fred-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/07\/26\/fredrick-w-fred-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Fredrick W. &#8220;Fred&#8221; Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Frederick W. \u201cFred\u201d Smith, 91, passes away Friday afternoon, July 24, 2026, at his home in rural Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was born on July 2, 1935, in West Unity, the son of Dale Millard and Rachel Hope (Beek) Smith, who both preceded him in death. On June 12, 1954, he married the former Clarabelle May (Furrell) Smith in Fort Jennings and they enjoyed 72 years of marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Fredrick-Smith-7-2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-208247\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fredrick Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Family members include his four children, Valerie A. (Douglas) Martin of Arizona, Stewart L. Smith of Van Wert, Laura Jean (Steve) Ehlers of Hayward, Wisconsin, and Julie Lynette (Curtis) Overholt of Van Wert; nine grandchildren, Ashley (Evans) Smith Conforti, Justin Smith, Sarah (Brendan) Lopshire-Barth, Rachel Magowan (Gavin Bates), Jennifer (Chris) Bolenbaugh, Victoria Klausing, Tyler (Kristin) Overholt, Joshua (Melissa) Overholt, Christian Martin, Celeste Martin; eight great-grandchildren, Taevin Darnell, Ivy Lynn Harris, Ella Harris, Connor Conforti, Everly Conforti, Oliver Bolenbaugh, Axton C. Bolenbaugh and Clarabelle Barth; nephews, Bruce (Donna) Smith of Idaho, Jeff Grandstaff of Van Wert and Frank (Brenda) Smith, Jr., of Van Wert, and nieces, Pam Chance of Cape Cora, Florida, Peggy Chance of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Arnell Adam of Convoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fred was a 1953 graduate of Van Wert High School and was a member of Calvary Evangelical Church. He had worked for Chrysler Amplex and retired from GKM Sinter Metals in 1997. He enjoyed woodworking and was a master carpenter. Fred was very proud that he had remodeled and built over a dozen homes for his family over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to his parents, Fred was preceded in death by grandson, Noel William Martin; four brothers, Franklin D. Smith, Eugene M. Smith, Lyle M. Smith and Dale L. Smith, and two sisters, Ima Rebecca Ann Putman and Iris H. Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Funeral services for Fred will be held at Cowan &amp; Son Funeral Home of Van Wert at 3 p.m. Wednesday August 5. There will be visitation for family and friends from 12-3 p.m. that day at the funeral home.  Interment will take place I. O. O. F. Cemetery of Convoy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Online condolences may be expressed on the Tribute Wall at <a href=\"https:\/\/cowanfuneralhome.com\">cowanfuneralhome.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frederick W. \u201cFred\u201d Smith, 91, passes away Friday afternoon, July 24, 2026, at his home in rural Van Wert. He was born on July 2, 1935, in West Unity, the son of Dale Millard and Rachel Hope (Beek) Smith, who both preceded him in death. On June 12, 1954, he married the former Clarabelle May [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obituaries"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 06:52:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208243"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208248,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208243\/revisions\/208248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}