Garlena Coleman Smith, a longtime resident of Fort Walton Beach, died Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at home.
Born in 1947 in Pikeville, Kentucky, Garlena received her Bachelor’s Degree from Morehead State University and a Masters of Science from the University of Louisville. She was also commissioned a Kentucky Colonel.
Having met on a Princess Cruise, Garlena met and later married Walter J. Smith in 1974 and moved to Fort Walton Beach. Locally, she was a licensed real estate broker who owned her own real estate company on Navarre Beach for many years. She was an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Fort Walton Beach.
To those who knew Garlena, they knew her as a force of nature until the very end of her life. She was preceded in death by her late husband, local attorney Walter J. Smith, her mother Lois Sowards Coleman and her father Clifford Olen Coleman.
She is survived by daughters, Lauraline P. Congleton (Rich) of Hammond, Louisiana and Ashley Smith Herndon (Brad) of Fort Walton Beach; step daughters, Lisa Smith Henderson (Michael) and Kendall Smith Sullivan (Jim). She is also survived by her grandson, Walter Lee Herndon.
In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that donations be made to Sharing and Caring of Okaloosa County.
Expressions of love and sympathy may be placed and viewed online at www.emeraldcoastfuneralhome.com
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