June Smith Minton
June Smith Minton, 90, of Marion, died at 10:21 p.m. Wednesday, June 19, 2019, at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale.
She was born on Sunday, Sept. 30, 1928, in Cairo, the daughter of Floyd James and Ruby Ellen Wilson Smith Sr.
She married Robert J. (Bob) Minton on Saturday, Dec. 2, 1967, in Marion. Together they shared nearly 39 years until his death on Tuesday, April 25, 2006.
She joined the First Christian Church in Cairo in 1937. She transferred her membership to the First Christian Church in Marion in 2007.
She was a 1946 graduate of Cairo High School.
From 1946 until 1951, she worked as a secretary to the president of Woodward Hardware Company in Cairo.
In 1951, she began working for the State of Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs in the Cairo office. In 1965, she became an itinerant secretary, training new employees, filling vacations and illnesses, until 1974, when a position became open in the Marion office. She worked in the Marion office from 1974, until her retirement in 1991, for a total of 40 years of service with the State of Illinois.
She had been a volunteer at Marion Memorial Hospital and Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion since May 4, 1994, and at the states attorney’s office in the courthouse in Marion since February 1998.
She started fishing and hunting at an early age with both her father and her mother. She especially enjoyed goose and duck hunting and deer hunting. She and her husband, Bob, spent many a day together hunting and fishing.
During World War II, she worked for the Thistlewood Dairy in Cairo. The owner was also the owner of the Cairo Airport. She joined the Civil Air Patrol on Sept. 9, 1944. She continued flying when she could and received her private pilot’s license in 1951.
She was a member of the Elks, the Rebekah Lodge, Order of the Eastern Star, AARP, HRMC Senior Circle, the Senior Club, the Illinois Sheriff’s’ Association and State of Illinois Retirees Association. She was a life member of the VFW Auxiliary, the National Rifle Association and Heartland Regional Medical Center Auxiliary.
Survivors include her nieces, Cynthia (Smith) Piephoff of Ballwin Mo., and Christine (Smith) Becker and husband, Doug, of Coppell, Texas; nephews F. James Smith of St. Louis and Thomas R. Smith, and wife, Anne of Columbia, Mo.; a son-in-law, Jim Whitehead of Jonesboro; grandsons Brian J. Whitehead of Jonesboro and Alan M. Whitehead of St. Louis; a sister-in-law, Frances (Smith) VandeKerk of St. Louis; many great- and great-great-nephews and nieces and cousins; and relatives by her marriage to Bob, all who were very special to her.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Bob; a brother, Floyd J. Smith Jr.; a daughter, Lisa M. Whitehead; several aunts, uncles and cousins.
Wilson-McReynolds Funeral Home at 900 N. Court St. Marion is in charge of arrangements.
In accordance with her wishes, her body was donated to science.
Internment will take place at a later date, next to her husband, Bob, in the Alto Pass Cemetery in Alto Pass.
Memorials can be made to the “PAWS Animal Shelter” or mailed in care of Wilson-McReynolds Funeral Home, 900 N. Court St., Marion, Ill. 62959.
To leave an online condolence of memory, visit www.wilsonmcreynolds.com.