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June 30, 2001
Celebrating the Life of Thelma Elaine Smith Deitz
Thelma
was born in Allegany, New York on January 12, 1911, approximately half
way through the Taft Administration. She passed away on June 24,
2001 at the age of 90 years, 6 month and 12 days—six months into the
term of George W. Bush. She was alive during the tenure of 12
presidents. This amounts to 28% of the total U. S. Presidents to
date. The United States constitution is 212 years old.
Thelma was alive 42.5% of the time.
Both her great grandfather and her grandfather fought in
the civil War. Fortunately for her, and for us, her grandfather
survived. Her great grandfather John Smith Sr. was killed at the
battle of Hatchers Run outside of Petersburg, VA and is buried at the
National Cemetery at Gettysburg .
Her father Benjamin Smith helped build the Panama Canal.
Thelma's birth was less than a decade after the Wright
Brother's flight at Kitty Hawk. She was four years old when the
Lusitania was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland - an event which
directly impacted the village of East Aurora. When the United
States entered world War I, Thelma was in the first grade.
Graduating from Allegany High School in 1928, schooled in stenographic
and secretarial skills, she worked as a legal secretary in Salamanca and
later in Franklinville. While in Franklinville she was introduced
to her Sunday school teacher's nephew Llewellyn Deitz. After a
courtship, Thelma and Llewellyn were married on August 4, 1939.
The couple settled in Buffalo and on April 29, 1941 their son John was
born. A second child, Mary, arrived on December 19, 1942.
The Family moved to 285 North Street in East Aurora the
first week of December, 1941. They were literally still settling
in when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Thelma worked as a legal
secretary in East Aurora until she retired in the early 1970's.
Llewellyn retired from Allied Chemical in Buffalo after working there
for four decades. Both Thelma and Llewellyn were active in the
life of Baker memorial United Methodist Church until their deaths.
It is remarkable to contemplate the long list of major
historical events, which occurred in Thelma's lifetime. She lived
through 90% of the 20th Century surviving along with all of us the
advent of Y2K and into the start of the 21st Century.
I knew and loved Thelma for thirty-four years. To
me she was and always will be Mother Deitz. Her kindness, her
gentleness, and her sense of humor were always a source of inspiration
to me. Thelma's deep religious faith enabled her to withstand the
blow of her daughter's all too premature death, and also the loss of her
beloved Llewellyn two years and ten months later.
Thelma was a wife of over 60 years, a mother times two,
a grandmother times four, and a great grandmother times two. It is
a tribute to her that three of her four grandchildren were with her at
the hospital the last days of her life.
Her family and friends will sorely miss Thelma.
But we can all feel blessed by having known her and loved her for so
long. We can take comfort in the fact that her demise was
peaceful, free from pain, and in the presence of her loved ones.
Keith O. Gary Keith was
Thelma's son-in-law |