Funeral services for Lillian Rose Smith Varnell, age 79 of Columbia, will be held at 2 PM Sunday, January 29, 2012 from the chapel of Riser Funeral Home in Columbia with Bro. Bill Youngblood officiating. Interment will follow at Welcome Home Cemetery in Grayson.
Visitation will be Saturday evening from 5 PM to 9 PM at Riser Funeral Home in Columbia.
Mrs. Varnell was born on September 8, 1932 in Kelly, LA to the union of Stanley Hines Smith and Mintha Bellew Smith and passed from this life on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at Richardson Medical Center in Rayville. She was a member of First United Methodist Church in Columbia.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, James Marvin "Jimmy" Varnell; son, Marvin Ray Varnell and his wife, Faye Crain Varnell; brothers: Jimmy Smith, Dean Smith, Reginald "Skeeter" Smith and sisters: Jean Zeagler and Joyce Cotney.
Survivors include her daughter, Sharon Toney and husband, James of Rayville, brothers: Buddy Smith and wife, Maureen of Grayson and Stanley Smith of Monroe, sisters: Loyce Caloway of Little Rock, AR and Imogene Claunch of Beaumont, TX, known as "Mamaw Midget" to her grandchildren and great grandchildren: four grandchildren: Shannon Varnell (Kylie), Pam Meredith (William), Dee Roberts (Damen) and Eddie Toney (Liz), nine great-grandchildren: Kassidy Varnell, Kennedy Varnell, Chelsee Meredith, Lance Roberts, Siarra Roberts, Bruer Roberts, Nichole Toney, Aaron Toney and Colleen Toney and special friends the children and grandchildren of Mitchell and Barbara Brown.
Pallbearers will be Damen Roberts, Lance Roberts, Aaron Toney, David Varnell, Charles Smith, Donnie Ostrum, Tommy Brown, John McIlwain and Steve May. Honorary pallbearers will be Shannon Varnell, Bruer Roberts and William Meredith.