Lola McWherter Smith, Class of 1956

Lola McWherter Smith ’56 died April 21, 2020. Lola was born June 4, 1934 in Derry, Pennsylvania, to the late Miles and Sara Luther McWherter. After graduating from Derry Borough schools, Lola’s joyous spirit and strong compassion for children everywhere guided her to become a teacher, earning her certification at Otterbein University where she was in the Kappa Phi Omega (Onyx) sorority and choir.

She retired from teaching in upstate New York in 1989, where she taught kindergarten classes for many years in the Clarkstown Central School District, Rockland County, NY. With no children of her own, she would often call her students and all of her nieces and nephews, “her kids.” Lola loved crafting her own personalized, stamped greeting cards and never missed sending birthday or holiday cards to all of her family, friends and extended family. A talented singer since her youth, she was always active in her school and church choirs and often was invited to share her solos with congregations in the many states that she lived and traveled to. After retirement, she and her husband Gerry moved to Fort Myers, FL where she enjoyed many happy years with babysitting, her involvement with many local church activities, her community volunteer work.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by brothers James McWherter, David McWherter and sister Louise Swartz. Lola is survived by husband, Gerald Smith and sister Elsie Barney.