Louise Dale Hyland Stith, 54

DOVER - Louise Dale Hyland Stith of Dover died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006, in Bayhealth-Milford Memorial Hospital. She was 54.

Mrs. Stith was born Aug. 31, 1952, in Laurel, daughter of the late Sandy Alexander Martin and Jennie Hyland.

She was a graduate of Paul Laurence Dunbar Elementary School and Laurel High School. She received an associate degree in accounting from Springfield, Mass.

Mrs. Stith was employed as an executive assistant at the Springfield Action Commission, a Massachusetts state auditor, Springfield, a registrar's clerical temporary employee, an alumni office secretary and a financial and budget assistant in the College of Agriculture and Related Sciences at Delaware State University, Dover.

She was a beautiful, loving and charming person, who dearly loved her family. She also loved gardening, sewing, interior decorating and cooking. On Feb. 25, 1989, she married Dr. John Courtland Stith and later had a daughter, Sydne Martin Stith.

Mrs. Stith attended Mt. Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal Church, Laurel when she was younger. She accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal Savior with the Rev. Dr. Norman Fields.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by two brothers, Hanson Hyland and Homer Hyland.

She is survived by her husband, Dr. John Courtland Stith; a daughter, Sydne Martin Stith; five sisters and a brother-in-law, Alexine and Berkeley Jemmott of Springfield, Mass., Michelle Carr of Salisbury, Md., Blanch Hyland of New York, Trudy Harmon of Bear and Gwendolyn Bradshaw of Dover; two brothers and a sister-in-law, Leon and Tangie Martin of Raleigh, N.C., and Michael Martin of Smyrna; two stepchildren; John Stith Jr. and Joy Stewart, both of Philadelphia; two stepgrandchildren; an aunt, Anita Holden of Laurel; three uncles and their spouses, Leon and Julia Wilson, Roger and Jean Wilson and Evans Wilson, of Springfield; 24 nieces and nephews; and a host of cousins, other relatives and friends.

Services will be 11 a.m. Saturday in Calvary Baptist Church, Queen Street, Dover.

Burial will follow in Sharon Hills Memorial Park, Dover.

Arrangements by Bennie Smith Funeral Home, Dover.