Anna Dell Smith

Anna Dell Koontz Smith, 96, of Abilene, passed away on November 14, 2020 in a local hospital. Visitation will be held at The Hamil Family Funeral Home on Buffalo Gap Road in Abilene, Texas, on Monday, November 23, from 4 until 6 PM. The Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday November 24, from 2 until 3 PM with David Cason, officiating. Burial will follow at Bickham Cemetery, north of Bryan, Texas, on November 25 at 12 PM with Kenny O'Quinn of Cottonwood Baptist Church speaking. Services are under the direction of The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road. Anna Dell was born October 7, 1924 to Roby Susanne Sample Koontz and Henry Koontz. She graduated from Bryan High School and later from Texas State College for Women, in Denton, Texas, where she received a BS degree in Bacteriology. She worked as a Medical Technologist for Scott & White Hospital in Temple and later in a pathology laboratory in The Medical Arts Building in Dallas before marrying Edward I. Smith, on February 14, 1949, in Bryan, Texas. The couple lived in Dallas until her husband was recalled by the US Air Force as a pilot in the Korean War; he later made the Air Force his career choice. While her husband was stationed in Korea, their first son, William, was born in July of a hot summer in Bryan; she remarked on how her new son cried until cooler weather finally arrived. Their second son, Herbert, was born in Florida, where the weather was a bit more comfortable. The family went on to assignments in Kansas, Arizona, and New Mexico, as well as the Netherlands and twice in Germany. When they were preparing to leave Holland, Anna Dell cried at having to leave, even though it was to return to her home country that she dearly missed. Anna Dell's family finally settled down in Abilene in 1969, when her husband retired from the Air Force. Since then, Anna Dell and her family have been members of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Abilene. After her sons left for college, Anna Dell had several jobs, but her favorite was serving as a proctor for military entrance examinations. She, with her sister Rosalia Clemens, actively participated in the management of their shared family property near Tabor in Brazos County, and she continued to do so until her recent illness. Anna Dell's greatest pride, however, has always been her family. Anna Dell was preceded in death by her husband Edward and sister Rosalia, and she is survived by her sons, William K. Smith, and Herbert E. Smith.