Opal Madeline Stalnaker Smith Powell, age 91, of The Highland House, Clifton Forge, Virginia, died Sunday, January 18, 2015 at The Highland House.

She was born July 12, 1923 in Highland County, Virginia, to the late Gideon Ezra and Elsie Lee Ryder Stalnaker.

She was a retired police dispatcher for the Clifton Forge Police Department.

She was a member of First Christian Church in Covington, and served there as a Sunday School teacher for a number of years and was a former member of the Faithful Workers Sunday School Class.

She was a volunteer for Mountain Regional Hospice and loved fishing and gardening.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her first husband, Aaron O'Brian Smith; her second husband, Keith Powell; two brothers; and two sisters.

She is survived by two daughters, Jewell Hannah and husband, Dwight of Clifton Forge, and Lorraine Duncan of Cornelius, NC; three sons, Aaron O'Brian Smith and wife, Virginia, Oscar Smith and wife, Connie, and John Smith, all of Covington; two sisters, Maxine Lockhart of Alexandria, and Francis Hunt of Front Royal; a brother, Eldridge Stalnaker of Clifton Forge; three step daughters, Cindy Gier of Clifton Forge, Patsy Fairburn of Clifton Forge, and Mary Jo Andersen of Roanoke; twelve grandchildren; a number of great grandchildren, nieces and nephews; and her Highland House family.

A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. in the chapel of Nicely Funeral Home, Clifton Forge with Reverend Bill Gilliland officiating. Interment will follow in Alleghany Memorial Park, Low Moor.

Mrs. Powell's grandsons will serve as pallbearers. The family will receive friends on Wednesday afternoon from 1:00 p.m. until the time of service at Nicely Funeral Home, and other times at the residence of Jewell and Dwight Hannah, 1132 Callie Mines Road, Clifton Forge, VA.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial tributes take the form of contributions to Mountain Regional Hospice Volunteers, P. O. Box 637, Clifton Forge, VA 24422 or to the First Christian Church, 231 E. Fudge Street, Covington, VA 24426.