Smither
LAURA KATE SMITHER, loving daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend. Laura was born in Houston, Texas on April 24, 1984.
She and her family have lived in the community of Friendswood for six and a half years. She was a Cadette Girl Scout with the South Texas Girl Scout Council, she attended the Houston Ballet Academy and was a member of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Friendswood, Texas.
Laura was preceded in death by her mother, Carol Maxwell Smither and her grandfather, Dewayne J. Maxwell.
She is survived by her parents; her brother; grandparents; aunts and uncles; a great aunt; cousins and a host of wonderful friends and a community who thinks of her as one of their own.
Visitation will be held from 2:00 to 9:00 P.M., Thursday, April 24, 1997 at Jeter Memorial Funeral Home in Friendswood, Texas.
A Memorial Service and Celebration of Laura's life will be held at 2:00 P.M., Friday, April 25, 1997 at Safemont Church, 11323 Hughes Road, Houston, Texas with the Reverend Robert Wareing, assisted by other Friendswood Community Clergy officiating.
A private Burial Service will be held by the family.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be sent to Heidi Search Center for Missing Children, 7900 N. IH 35, Windsor Park Mall, San Antonio, Texas 78218 in memory of Laura Kate Smither.
Houston Chronicle, 24 Apr 1997
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FRIENDSWOOD, Texas (KTRK) -- Laura Smither, 12, was the light of her parents' lives. She was a gifted and talented student, scuba diver, ballerina and a Girl Scout. She disappeared in seconds.
The Smithers were making pancakes for breakfast on the morning of April 3, 1997, in their Friendswood home. Laura asked her mother if she could go jogging before eating, and her mother, Gay Smither, said yes.
When Laura didn't return from her jog, her parents called the police, and by evening time, authorities and the community mobilized to find the 12-year-old.
Thousands of volunteers handed out flyers and searched nearby fields. Helicopters criss-crossed the sky while mounted patrols from area prisons searched the rural areas around the house.
After weeks of searching with no results, the dreaded news everyone feared came. Laura's body was found in a muddy area near a retention pond in Pasadena, on April 20. Laura's memory did not end with the discovery of her body. Her parents founded the Laura Recovery Center in her honor, and it wasn't long before her parents would be called to action.
Smither
LAURA KATE SMITHER, loving daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend. Laura was born in Houston, Texas on April 24, 1984.
She and her family have lived in the community of Friendswood for six and a half years. She was a Cadette Girl Scout with the South Texas Girl Scout Council, she attended the Houston Ballet Academy and was a member of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Friendswood, Texas.
Laura was preceded in death by her mother, Carol Maxwell Smither and her grandfather, Dewayne J. Maxwell.
She is survived by her parents; her brother; grandparents; aunts and uncles; a great aunt; cousins and a host of wonderful friends and a community who thinks of her as one of their own.
Visitation will be held from 2:00 to 9:00 P.M., Thursday, April 24, 1997 at Jeter Memorial Funeral Home in Friendswood, Texas.
A Memorial Service and Celebration of Laura's life will be held at 2:00 P.M., Friday, April 25, 1997 at Safemont Church, 11323 Hughes Road, Houston, Texas with the Reverend Robert Wareing, assisted by other Friendswood Community Clergy officiating.
A private Burial Service will be held by the family.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be sent to Heidi Search Center for Missing Children, 7900 N. IH 35, Windsor Park Mall, San Antonio, Texas 78218 in memory of Laura Kate Smither.
Houston Chronicle, 24 Apr 1997
____________________________________________________________________________________
FRIENDSWOOD, Texas (KTRK) -- Laura Smither, 12, was the light of her parents' lives. She was a gifted and talented student, scuba diver, ballerina and a Girl Scout. She disappeared in seconds.
The Smithers were making pancakes for breakfast on the morning of April 3, 1997, in their Friendswood home. Laura asked her mother if she could go jogging before eating, and her mother, Gay Smither, said yes.
When Laura didn't return from her jog, her parents called the police, and by evening time, authorities and the community mobilized to find the 12-year-old.
Thousands of volunteers handed out flyers and searched nearby fields. Helicopters criss-crossed the sky while mounted patrols from area prisons searched the rural areas around the house.
After weeks of searching with no results, the dreaded news everyone feared came. Laura's body was found in a muddy area near a retention pond in Pasadena, on April 20. Laura's memory did not end with the discovery of her body. Her parents founded the Laura Recovery Center in her honor, and it wasn't long before her parents would be called to action.
