Mary Anne Smith passed away at her home in Santa Ana on Friday July 28, 2017 after a short illness.  Born Mary Anne Fanger in Kalida, Putnam County, Ohio, on May 27, 1916, she grew up in that small German Catholic farming community surrounded by fields of corn and soy beans. Her father John Anthony Fanger and mother Amelia (Recker) were descended from the earliest settlers of Kalida.  Mary Anne was an excellent student who also worked in her mother’s chicken hatchery and played organ for St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church across the street.  She went on to nursing school at St. Rita’s Hospital in Lima, Ohio and then took graduate training at Chicago Lying-In Hospital shortly after it became the obstetrical and gynecological unit of the University of Chicago Medical Center. She returned to work at St. Rita's where she attended hundreds of births. During WWII she met Charles Kenneth (Ken) Smith of Lima, Ohio who was home on leave before shipping out for the South Pacific..

Mary Anne and Ken were married April 30, 1946 and moved to Los Angeles where Ken managed the Alhambra Branch of the Good Humor Ice Cream Company.  Their children Alan Joseph and John Kenneth were born in Los Angeles.  Ken and Mary Anne pooled their savings, purchased the Good Humor Orange County franchise and moved to Orange in 1950 where Rose Ann (Woolpert) was born. Here they joined Holy Family Parish, where Mary Anne was a proud 67-year parishioner. 

Mary Anne was a fastidious homemaker and active in her children’s educations at Holy Family Elementary School, Servite High School and Mater Dei High School while supporting Ken’s long hours and nights at the family business.  When her children left home she kept house and was Ken’s equal partner in the long hours of the family ice cream business until they retired. 

After Ken's death I n 1996, Mary Anne remained active in her neighborhood where she was known affectionately as the “Mayor of Romelle”. 

Mary Anne is survived by her three children, Alan, John and Rose Ann and five grandchildren: Marianne Woolpert, Amelia Smith, Jennifer Smith, Arthur Woolpert and Matthew Smith. 

The family would like to express their thanks to Premium Hospice, Inc and Mary Anne’s devoted caregivers, Alma, Olga, Ana, Angelica and Wendy.

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