BEAVER DAM, Ky. — Paula Sue Hughes, 78, of Beaver Dam, died Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, at Ohio County Hospital. She was born in Hartford, Kentucky, on May 9, 1944, to Gene Victoria and James Meade Smith.
She attended elementary school in Indiana, junior high at Eastern in Owensboro, Kentucky, and Hartford High School. Paula then worked at General Electric before attending Brescia College, with a BA and a MA from Western Kentucky University.
She enjoyed teaching at McHenry, Dundee, and Fordsville Elementary for 18 years. After retiring, she opened Sue’s Country Quilts and Crafts for 12 years. She started the Sue Hughes Literacy Fund and was honored for her many years of dedication to the literacy program she started through the homemakers. She was a member of Cedar Grove Church in Olaton, Kentucky.
Paula was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Everett Hughes Jr.; her parents, James Meade Smith and Gene Pirtle Smith; and stepdad, Gilbert Lewis.
She is survived by her son, James David (Vicki) Hughes, of Beaver Dam; five grandchildren, Kyle Hughes and Kailyn Hughes, both of Hartford, Brock Hughes, of Beaver Dam, Amanda Sheffield, of Owensboro, Kentucky, and Ashley Bulloch, of Tennessee; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Services will be 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, at Geary Funeral Home with burial in Fordsville Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday and from 11 a.m. until service time Friday at the funeral home.
