Former KQHA Member Susan J. (Morand) Smith Passes Away

Susan Jan Smith, 50, passed away in an automobile accident near Medora, Kansas on Thursday, December 06, 2007. The accident was attributed to the icy road conditions present at the time.

She was born on November 4, 1957, in Hutchinson, Kansas, the daughter of William and Betty McAllister Morand. She graduated from Buhler High School in 1976. She was employed at Hospira, formerly Abbott Lab, McPherson, Kansas. She loved all kinds of animals. She was a National Quarter Horse and Palomino Youth Champion showing horses all around the Mid-West. Her best known equine partner was Hardship George, the 1973 & 1974 KQHA high point performance horse.

She is survived by her daughter, Heather Aleman and her companion Sergio Gomez; her parents, William and Betty Morand, all of Hutchinson and a sister Mary Ann Morand, Wichita, KS. She was preceded in death by her grandparents.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 11, 2007, at Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home and Crematory Chapel with the Rev. Pat Ault-Duel officiating. Interment will follow in Penwell-Gabel Cemetery and Mausoleum. Visitation will be from 1 to 9 p.m. on Sunday and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday at Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home and Crematory with the family present to receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday evening.

Memorials may be given to the Hutchinson Animal Shelter in care of the funeral home.