Pauletta Kay Smith

July 4, 1967 - September 20, 2021

Service for Pauletta Kay Smith will be 10:30 a.m., Thursday, September 23, 2021 at Westwood United Pentecostal Church. Friends may visit at MMS-Payne Funeral Home in Claremore on Wednesday, September 22 from 2pm-8pm, with family receiving visitors from 6pm-8pm. Pauletta passed from this life to her eternal reward on Monday, September 20th, 2021. She was 54. The daughter of Paul Stanley and Ruby Nadine (Jones) Bickford was born in Claremore, Oklahoma on July 4, 1967, just four minutes before her brother, Ronald Ray. Their early years were spent in Claremore, followed by several years in Michigan. Her family returned to Oklahoma in 1980, settling in Chelsea. She was the Salutatorian of the Chelsea High School class of 1985. She was an excellent scholar, participating in National Honor Society and Who's Who Among American High School Students. Pauletta met the love of her life at church, assisted by his sister, Lory. On December 5, 1986, Pauletta married Dexter Lee Smith in the Chelsea church. They spent 34 wonderful years together, and were blessed with two sons and three grandchildren. Pauletta was always working. From helping her brother with a paper route in Michigan, to mowing yards in Chelsea, she never minded hard work. Her two favorite jobs were caring for children, and caring for the precious church family that her husband pastored. For 14 years in Chelsea, she ran a home day care. Many of the children she cared for still consider her family, even as adults. She also worked at the St. Francis day care and impacted many lives there. She loved teaching Sunday School and telling Bible stories to the children in her class. All her life, she was extremely creative and artistic. She used these skills in decorating for events at her church, her Sunday School class, and even her home, which looked like a page from a magazine. Family and church family were of utmost importance to Pauletta, and her most cherished times were those spent with her children and grandchildren. She loved her husband, and she loved her LORD more than anything else. She enjoyed bargain hunting, and shopping for antiques and decorative items for her home. Pauletta is preceded in death by her father, Paul Stanley Bickford, and her brother, Ronald Ray Bickford. Those left to mourn her passing are her mother, Ruby Bickford; her husband Dexter Smith; her sons Greg Smith and wife Kristal, and Garrett Smith; grandchildren Rowan Leigh Smith, Lucas Xavier Smith, and Kinsley RaShelle Smith; as well as many extended family members and loved ones. Memorial contributions may be made to the Glenpool United Pentecostal Church, 88 West Main Street, Glenpool, OK 74033