Rhea Smith Stup
November 25, 1923 — January 2, 2013
Rhea Marie (Bowman) Smith Stup, 89, of Boonsboro, Maryland, passed from this life on Wednesday, January 2, 2013, at the Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown, Maryland.
Born on November 25, 1923, at Bowman's Mill in Leitersburg, Maryland, she was the daughter of the late Floyd Nelson and Olive Catherine (Schilling) Bowman. She was preceded in death by her two husbands, Kenneth L. Smith in 1953 and Ray E. Stup in 1992.
She was the head of the cafeteria at Boonsboro Elementary School and had also worked at Earl's Restaurant in Boonsboro.
Rhea was baptized at the First Christian Church in Downsville, Maryland and she had been a member of the former Brethren Church in Boonsboro.
She is survived by her son, Vernon L. Smith and wife Linda of Boonsboro; her granddaughter whom she raised, April S. Gamber, of Taneytown, Maryland; three other grandchildren, Vernon L. Smith, Jr. and wife Lois of Boonsboro, Kenneth L. Smith and wife Michelle, of Hagerstown, and Jamie J. Smith of Boonsboro; one step-granddaughter, Robin Heske of Greencastle, Pennsylvania; nine great grandchildren, Heather Gamber, Gary Schisler, Jr., Dustin Siegfried, Preston Main, Brady Howe, Vernon Smith, III, Victoria Smith, Amber Smith, and Ashley Smith; three great-great grandchildren, Brayden and Brooke Dixon, and Damien Schisler; three sisters, Arvella Lutz of Middletown, Maryland, Orpha Wade of Boonsboro, and Olive Draper of Fairplay, Maryland; and two brothers Roger and Marshall Bowman, both of Boonsboro. She is also survived by twenty-four nieces and nephews and a few cousins.
In addition to her parents and her husbands, she was preceded in death by three sisters, Evelyn Griffith, Charlotte Keller and Zella Koogle; and two brothers, George and Glenn Bowman.
A funeral ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, January 7, 2013, at the Bast-Stauffer Funeral Home, 7606 Old National Pike in Boonsboro. Rev. Edward J. Wade will officiate. Final resting place ceremonies will follow at the Boonsboro Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, January 6, 2013 at the funeral home.