{"id":41784,"date":"2026-07-05T17:24:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T22:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=41784"},"modified":"2026-07-05T17:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T22:24:39","slug":"richard-smith-61-of-newton-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/41784-richard-smith-61-of-newton-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Smith (61) of Newton"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Richard Smith age 61, of Newton passed away on Sunday, May 3, 2026, at his residence.<\/p>\n<p>A memorial gathering for the family and friends of Richard will be held from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. Saturday, July 11, 2026, at the White Oak picnic area in Sam Parr State<br \/>\nPark, Newton. Food will be provided. Those attending are asked to bring their lawn chairs, fishing poles and memories of Richard to share.<\/p>\n<p>Richard was born November 29, 1964, in Peotone Illinois, he was the son of Chester Arthur Smith and Karen Darlene (Phillips) Smith. He married Kimberly Ann Cornwell on November 24, 1990, she survives.<\/p>\n<p>He is also survived by his sons, Tyler Smith (Amy), Trace Cornwell, both of Newton, His daughter Tessa Blankenship (Brian) of Newton. His mother, Karen Darlene Wallace, and step-father Charles Wallace, his Grandchildren, Layna Smith, Kynleigh Smith, Hazeleigh Smith, Taimen Smith, and Jayden Blankenship. Brother\u2019s Jerry Smith, Bryan Smith, and Jaime Smith. Sister, Karen Wallace also survives.<\/p>\n<p>He was preceded by his father.<\/p>\n<p>Richard was a carpenter for Kirchner\u2019s Builder in Newton, He loved to hunt, go fishing, playing pool and being outside.<\/p>\n<p>Online Condolences may be offered at www.crainfuneral.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Smith age 61, of Newton passed away on Sunday, May 3, 2026, at his residence. A memorial gathering for the family and friends of Richard will be held from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":41785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Richard Smith (61) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/41784-richard-smith-61-of-newton-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Richard Smith (61) of Newton - 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