Obituary
Forney Walton Smith was the third child of Bryant Smith and Mary Ann Floyd. He was born on November 6, 1867, location unknown. He was called Fonny, Fonzo, and Fonz; the name given on his marriage license was Alphonzo.
Fonny was a tall lanky man who loved to read. He attended Howard College between 1889 and 1891. He received certificates of distinction in English, Latin, and Greek, and he was included in a list of Distinguished Undergraduates. He also received a math certificate in his studies. Fonny lived at Brownsville while he attended college.
After he finished college, Fonny married Anna Sarah Wheeler on November 1, 1891, in Dekalb County, Alabama. They had one child.
Anna was born on June 17, 1872, in Jefferson County. She was thé second of seven children of Thomas Drew Wheeler of Floyd County, Georgia, and Alice Alexander of Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Fonny taught school for a while in Cherokee County. Then they moved to Wills Valley Road, Collinsville, Dekalb County, Alabama.
About 1920 Fonny started to develop arthritis deformans, which eventually helped to contribute to his death.
On February 7, 1924, Anna was killed in a train accident. The following excerpts are from articles in the Collinsville Courier.
"Mrs. Anna Smith...was instantly killed by a fast freight train at the Main Street Crossing, Thursday afternoon, at 3:15...as she was going to attend a meeting of her Missionary Society. She was always doing something for the afflicted or shut-in. She was secretary for the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Her tender care
of her invalid husband will be greatly missed. [She] leaves behind her husband and one daughter who is teaching school at Leeds, Alabama."
She was buried in Oakland Cemetary in Birmingham.
Fonny returned to Birmingham to the Wylam community, where he lived for a while with his daughter at the home of Robert and Lillian
Wheeler, Anna's brother. Because of the severe nature of his arthritis , Fonny was unable to teach or do any work as a carpenter.
He was confined to a wheelchair for the last few years of his l i f e.
Fonny died on September 10, 1936, at the age of sixty-nine, of bronchopneumonia agitated by an infected foot and the deformans arthritis. He was buried beside his wife at Oakland Cemetary.
by Charles Randall Smith
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