Bethel Lorraine (Smalley) Adams, the daughter of Ralph W. and Leona (Weir) Smalley, was born in Ringgold County, Iowa on June 10, 1922. She passed away August 23, 2010 at Pleasant View Nursing Home, Rock Port, Missouri at the age of 88 years.

Bethel graduated from Conway High School in 1940. She then attended the American Institute of Business in Des Moines, Iowa. On April 6, 1944, she was united in marriage to Marvin Boyer and they moved to California. They later divorced. Bethel then met the love of her life, Murel (Whitie) Jackson. They ran a commercial fishing business on the Pacific Ocean until he passed away in 1961. In 1979, Bethel was married to Leroy (Sam) Adams in Ontario, California. In 1983, Sam passed away. She was employed with Rockwell International Corporation in El Segundo, California until she retired in April of 1984. Bethel then moved to southern Missouri and purchased a farm; raising cattle until 2000. She then moved to the Rock Port area, so she would be closer to her niece, Karon (Sarah) and her husband, Donald Daugherty. She loved animals and spent a lot of her time with her dogs and cats.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands, Murel and Sam, sister and brother-in-law, Ruth and Herbert Whitney, brother and sister-in-law, Nelson and Hazel Smalley, brother and sister-in-law, Ralph, Jr. and Myrtle Smalley, brother and sister-in-law, Laurel and Ruth Smalley, and a brother-in-law, Robert Jackson, two nephews, David Tjossem and John Smalley. She is survived by a brother and sister-in-law, Jean T. and Arlene Smalley, Medford, Oregon; a sister and brother-in-law, Mary and David Woods, Ouray, Colorado; and a sister, Patricia Jackson of Central Point, Oregon; other nieces, nephews and other relatives and friends.

There will be a family gathering at a later date to celebrate Bethel’s life.
Interment: Hunter Cemetery, Rock Port, Missouri.
Services under the direction of Minter Funeral Chapel, Rock Port, Missouri.