1925 ~ 2017
Vida was born four miles NE of Fallon, Nevada to John L. and Martha Fay Freeman Holbrook on her grandparent’s ranch on November 2, 1925.
Those grandparents, Emery Eugene and Martha Ann Freeman homesteaded the ranch in the Harmon district, Churchill County when Fay was five years old. John “Jack” Holbrook was born in Salmon City, Idaho. Fay was born in 1903 in
Gratiot County, Michigan. Jack supported his family as a carpenter/blacksmith/jack of all trades. At one time he worked on the Lahontan Dam and Fay cooked for the crews. Fay also worked as a nurse.
When Vida was eight the family moved to Reno, where she went to school until moving on to beauty school. She took a course in telegraphy and worked for a time for the railroad during World War II, before returning to beauty shop work.
On June 1, 1946 Vida married John E. Smith in Reno. They lived in Fallon before moving to Grants Pass, Oregon where John went into law enforcement. Vida worked for various restaurants, such as the Cave Shop and Cozy Café, before going to work for Harold and Cleo Dollard, at the Rogue Food Shop on H Street for eight years until 1960. Following that, Vida worked under Don and Bruce McGregor at the McGregor’s store on the corner of I and 6th Streets from 1960 to 1963.
John left the city police department to work for Copenhagen Inc., and from 1963 to 1975 Vida and John traveled the state with their trailer, going wherever the job took them. After retirement the pair enjoyed frequent trips for relaxation, fishing and hunting. John passed in 2002 and Vida continued to live in their home in Grants Pass that they had purchased in 1950. In July 2016, illness forced her to move to Heritage House, a Grants Pass foster home. She died on October 6, 2017.
She was preceded in death by her brother, Darrell Holbrook of Reno; and her sister, Dorothy Talbott of Eugene.
Vida is survived by two stepdaughters, Karol Smith Huuskonen and Dena Smith Hurst; seven step-grandchildren; numerous step-great-grandchildren; and nephew, Dennis Talbott of Sacramento, California.
Services will be at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 17, 2017 at Hull & Hull Funeral Directors, 612 NW A St., Grants Pass, OR.
Vida requested that instead of flowers, donations be sent to the Rogue Valley Humane Society or Disabled American Veterans.
