Margie Smith

It is with great sadness that the family of Margie “Peanut” Smith announces her peaceful departure in the early hours of Sunday, October 31, 2021, at the Live Oak Nursing Center in George West, Texas. The beloved bride and life’s companion of the late W.D. Smith Jr. was born September 12, 1929, in the high plains of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Charles Smith, an electrical engineer, and his schoolteacher wife, who was also named Margie Smith.

“Peanut” was the nickname that she acquired when she attended Three Rivers High School, from which she graduated in 1947. During that time, she also managed to acquire a high school sweetheart, a handsome and lanky South Texas product who also carried a distinctive nickname: “Dub”. They married in 1949 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, while he was serving in the U.S. Air Force, and upon his discharge, moved to San Antonio, where they lived with Michael, their firstborn, who arrived in November 1951. The young couple was eventually drawn back to the muddy banks of the Frio River, where in November 1954, they welcomed their daughter, Patricia, and opened a new Humble service station along Highway 281 in the very heart of Three Rivers.

Later, Peanut and Dub opened Smith’s Grocery, and then Smith Country Food Store, which included The Buttonhole, a fabric store that she operated. However, the hardworking couple ultimately surrendered to their shared passion for antiques. In the mid-1980s they sold their businesses and became full-time antiques dealers, with successful and rewarding shops in both Three Rivers and in Gruene, the historic community near New Braunfels. The Gruene Antique Company kept them busy for over 25 years, and Peanut continued to manage it even after Dub passed away in 2012.

And now, she has rejoined her husband in Heaven. She is survived by her son, Michael Simmons-Smith, and his wife Joyce Janann (J.J.) of Austin; her daughter, Patricia Obermeier, and husband Richard of Colorado Springs, CO; and her four beautiful granddaughters: Brooklin-Page Bray (Jimbo), Elizabeth Anne Obermeier, Sierra Danielle Pedroza (Dan), and Emily Obermeier Amott (Mark). Peanut also leaves her two great-grandsons: James Michael Bray and Benjamin Obermeier Amott; and, finally, her sister-in-law and partner in adventure, Mary Evelyn Pawlik.

Hers was a life well-lived, filled with love, family, friendship, good health and happiness. Funeral services and a Celebration of Life for Margie “Peanut” Smith will be held at the Brush Country Cowboy Church in George West at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, November 5. Burial will follow at the Three Rivers Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be John Hines, James Skidmore, Gary Jones, Jim Huff, Tim Richter and Kelly Lowe.