Sis. Darla

Sis. Darla at six months

All graphics, unless otherwise stated, 
copyrighted by Sabrina Smith.

Sister Darla Jean Polnack Smith was born on January 13, 1959 to George Ocie Polnack and Bonnie Ruth Self Polnack had her little girl, Darla Jean. When Darla was around sixteen months old she was playing on the porch, and the dog knocked her off. She hit the back of her head on a tree stump, knocking a hole in her head. Only Bonnie and Glen was at home at the time, with no car. Bonnie picked Darla up, and ran to the neighbor's house. The neighbor took them to the hospital. Darla lost so much blood that her eyes were rolling back into her head. The doctor just shook his head at the sight, but started massaging Darla's heart. He told Bonnie that he might need to cut her open and start her heart again in his hands. He told Bonnie to wait in the hall. Bonnie fell down and started praying in the hall, and in a little while George came in and started praying with her. Then the doctor came in smiling and said Darla needed blood. A friend had the same blood type, and gave his blood for her. The next morning Darla acted like nothing had happened, playing in the middle of the bed. Brother Bud and Sister Fay came to see if they could go to Prim, Arkansas to hold a revival. The doctor told them that Darla was just fine.

When Darla was about 8 years old, Sister Fay and Sister Bonnie took her and Glen Ocie to go check on the cattle on their Eskota, Texas ranch. While walking across plowed ground they walked up to a rattlesnake. The snake stood up nearly as tall as Darla and tried to strike her. Sister Fay and Sister Bonnie began to pray. The snake stopped dead in its tracks, and in a moment fell down and crawled away.

In the summer of 1975 Darla and her brother, Glen Ocie, were evangelizing. Darla was driving and while they were going down a steep hill in Arkansas, the speed control went out. They were going over 100 miles an hour. Darla woke Glen and told him, "You better help me pray, the speed control is broken." Glen fell to the floor board and started trying to disconnect it while praying. Darla saw a sharp curve ahead and knew she could not make that curve. Glen said he couldn't disconnect it. Darla threw her hands in the air and said, "Lord it's in your hands now." The car went around the sharp curve and slowed to a stop even though Glen had been unable to disconnect the speed control. Then Glen got out and disconnected the speed control. Praise the Lord for driving that car and stopping it.

On July 22, 2003 Darla's son Glen Russell had a bicycle accident. Had been ramping with his friends, and decided he would ramp by himself while his friend was eating supper. He went a little too fast, and flipped over his bike in mid-air. He hit face down on the street, sliding. He managed to pull himself up while still sliding, and looked around. He never felt the pain, and did not know he was hurt until blood passed over his eye. He asked a neighbor what he looked like, and the boy told him to shut his left eye. Not knowing how bad he was hurt he went to the Brother of the church's house who he was visiting. When the Sister answered the door she was very shocked at the sight of him, and asked him why he was not crying. She called over to Darla's house, and it just happened that Brother George had went inside. They went to pick Glen up, not knowing how bad he was hurt. When they got there (just a few blocks), they found the children standing around, white as sheets. Glen had cut his forehead, and blood was all over his shirt. His face had road burn on the forehead and chin. He also had bruised both knees and scraped his shoulder and hands. He wanted the pastor to pray for him, because he felt like he was in a dream world. So they took him to the pastor's house, and he called the elders of the church in to pray. Glen's Sunday school teacher brought his first aid kit and bandaged his wounds. Glen says his face went completely numb at this point. When Sister Darla took the bandage off a little bit later she felt like he needed stitches and took him to get them. By the time they got to the hospital the scrapes where scabbed and healing up already, although it had just happened that evening. The doctor and nurses could not understand that it had just happened. They kept asking what who had put on him to numb the pain. Darla told them again and again that they used peroxide and antibiotic cream. Hours and even days later his face was still numb. Four days later the blisters where almost completely healed, and the scabs started coming off. The Lord really helped him. The Sister who had first saw him said just a week after the accident that had she not known, she would have thought it had happened a month before that.

Sis. Sabrina, Glen Russell, and Sis. Darla