Lola J. Smiley

Lola Juanita Smiley, 103, Stevens Point, a former owner of
Smiley’s Hallmark in Stevens Point, died Monday July 18, 2016, at the Portage
County Health Care Center while under the care of Aspirus Hospice.
Visitation will be at the Pisarski Funeral Home in Stevens
Point from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 27. Burial will be at a later date in
the Forest Hill Cemetery in Eau Claire.
Condolences may be offered online at
www.pisarskifuneralhome.com.
Mrs. Smiley was born Dec. 6, 1912, in La Crosse, a daughter
of the late Chester and Vera (Coolidge) Johnson. She graduated from La Crosse
Logan High School in 1930.
She was employed throughout the depression in various
secretarial jobs in the La Crosse area, including Gateway Transportation.
She also worked as a secretary to the Project Engineer at
Badger Ordinance Works near Baraboo during the early part of World War II.
She moved to Arizona in 1943 to be near her future husband,
Joe Smiley, when he was stationed at Williams Field in Chandler, Ariz. She then
worked as a medical secretary at the Williams Field Hospital in Mesa, Ariz.
She was married to Joe Smiley May 20, 1944, in Tempe, Ariz.
They were married for 51 years before he died in 1995.
They lived in many places, including Chicago, Kansas City,
Los Angeles, and Richmond, Va.
She and her husband owned and operated Smiley’s Hallmark on
Main Street in Stevens Point from 1970 through 1980.
Briefly they retired in California, living in Walnut Creek
and Carlsbad, before settling in Sun City.
Survivors include two children, Joe (Carol) Smiley, Stevens
Point, and Susan (Paul) Merlo, Elne, France; four grandchildren, Aurelie Merlo,
Marina Merlo, Ashley LaBarbera and Andrea Cagle; and five great-grandchildren.
She was also preceded in death by one sister, Only; and two
brothers, Jeff and Lee.