Funeral services for Ray Smit will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 22, 2007 at First English Lutheran Church in Centerville, South Dakota. Burial will follow at Riverview Cemetery in rural Centerville. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 from 2:008:00 p.m. at Wass Funeral Home in Centerville with the family present from 7:00- 8:00 p.m. Ray Russell Smit was born September 2, 1931 in rural Centerville, South Dakota to parents George and Helen (Hyronimus) Smit. He died March 18, 2007 at Pioneer Memorial Nursing Home in Viborg, SD at the age of 75 years, six months and 16 days. Ray attended rural school, Davis School and graduated from Centerville High School. He enjoyed sports, playing football, basketball, baseball and track. Ray played in the State B Basketball tournament in March of 1951. He farmed and worked for the telephone company prior to managing Bartlett grain elevator in the late 1950s. Ray married Lila Lee Bartlett on June 25, 1954. In the late 1960s, Ray started Smit Oil; it included a service station, bulk fuel, farm chemicals and custom spraying. He opened Rays Amoco Convenience Store in August 1984 that also provided bulk fuel and LP gas. He operated his business until selling to Cenex in 1992; it is currently named Co-op 1 Stop. Ray worked there until the spring of 2006. He loved to watch sports, cook and to fish with his grandsons and granddaughters. Survivors include one daughter, Linda (Brad) Trudeau of Centerville; one son Doug Smit of Centerville and his great friend Cheryl Peterson of Beresford; four granddaughters, Tracy Trudeau Kopp and her friend Rick Mandel of Sioux Falls, Kristie Trudeau of Nashville, TN, Amanda Trudeau of Vermillion, SD and Tiffany Smit of Douglas, WY; two grandsons, Billy and Danny Smit both of Centerville; two great-grandsons, Alex and Nicolas Kopp of Sioux Falls; and his former wife, Lila Bartlett Smit of Northfield, MN. Also surviving are three sisters, Grace Anderson of Lennox, Ann Eddy of Lennox and Clarice Krome of Sioux Falls; three brothers, Tommy (Carol) Smit of Davis, SD, Arley (Dorothy) Smit of Sioux Falls, Eldon (Charlotte) Smit of Centerville; one sister-in-law, Pat Smit of Hurley; many nieces and nephews; and friends, too numerous to mention. His parents and one brother, Albert Smit preceded Ray in death.