They arrived in Medicine Lodge as the clock was striking 12 Midnight New
     Year's Eve, December 31, 1950. Their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Harvie Unwin of
     Kim, Colorado, helped move all their belongings from Springfield, Colorado.
     where Leonard was Assistant Manager of the Gamble  Store resigning after
     buying the Gamble Store here. Blanche resigned her position at the Co-op
     store in Springfield. Leonard's mother, Lula Smith, took care of the house
     and their son, Carl.
       Leonard, at age 8, came with his parents, Benjamin and Lula Williams Smith,
     by emigrant train in 1901 to Laverne, Oklahoma, where they homesteaded.
       After learning farming ways, Leonard hitched up a covered wagon in 1915
     and set out to "Seek his own fortune," going to the desolate climes of Las
     Animas County Colorado.
       He proved up a claim but when WWI was underway, he joined the U.S. Army.
     Despite a siege with flu, he was carried aboard a ship in New York to
     remain with his buddies enroute to England. This developed into pneumonia
     and he was carried ashore and hospitalized. He did get to France and Germany
     by re-enlisting with the American occupation forces.
       Following discharge he became a Standard Oil refinery employee at Casper,
     Wyoming for a time.
       Blanche, daughter of John Luinstra from Holland and Ica Blanche Surgeon
     of Iowa, was born January 31, 1908, in a sod house in Keopahaw County,
     Nebraska. The Luinstras moved to Laverne, Oklahoma in 1918.
       Her parents owned a chicken hatchery which was later converted into an
     early self-service laundry. They also bought houses to remodel and sell.
     Blanche was one of 19 children. She began school in Sioux City, Iowa to
     grade three, then completed high school at Laverne with the class of 1928.
     She enrolled in a Woodward, Oklahoma business school. After graduation, she
     taught bookkeeping.
       Blanche was employed at Woodward Co-op for 15 years. In 1934 she met
     Leonard Smith and after a short courtship, they were married at Laverne
     in her parents' home. They lived in Woodward and Leonard worked for the 
     Highway Planning Survey. He then joined the Co-op force and worked until 
     March 1945. Carl was born August 14, 1944, at Woodward Hospital.
       In 1945 they went to Springfield, Colorado and Leonard became assistant
     manager of the Gambles Store and Blanche checked groceries for the Co-op
     until December 25, 1950 when they moved to Medicine Lodge.
       Carl started his first year of school in the new grade building the year
     it opened, and graduated from high school the year Medicine Lodge Rural
     High, District 254 opened. He graduated with high honors in 1962. The same
     fall he entered Kansas University, Lawrence.
       He received his bachelor's degree in 1967, Masters in 1968 and then
     received his Doctorate from Rice University in Houston, Texas, in 1971 in
     Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. He is employed with Shell Oil
     Company in their Research Area. He is still there at this writing.
       While attending K.U. Carl met Miss Ruth Rule, daughter of Rev. H.T. Rule,
     an Assembly of God minister. They were wed June 12, 1966. Their son, Brian
     Trey, came to make his home January 8, 1977.
       Leonard and Blanche Smith operated the Gamble Store with great success
     and made many friends. In 1963 they received the Western Auto Dealership,
     and Blanche is still managing it.
       On September 15, 1977, Leonard passed away at Medicine Lodge Memorial
     Hospital, aged 84. He was laid to rest in the Laverne Oklahoma Cemetery.
       A complete writing of the Smith-Luinstra families is in "Sage and Sod,"
     a history of Harper County, Oklahoma, in Laverne.
       During the 29 year operation of the Medicine Lodge store, we have had
     several clerks, service men, at times as many as six employees. At present
     Blanche is operating on a small scale along with the antique business and
     rental property.
     
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 427 
     Submitted by: Blanche Smith