Lorine Smith

Lorine Maria Meta Wilke Smith  was born at home in Welcome, Texas on September 24, 1933 the third child of Otto August and Dorothy Koester Wilke. She was born from above and made a child of God by the waters of Holy Baptism in the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit at Salem Lutheran Church, Welcome, on November 5, 1933, Pastor J. Appel officiating. Lorine, affectionately known as Lucy, grew up in the beauty of Texas blue bonnets and with the sweetness of Blue Bell ice cream. Recently she was asked what her favorite flavor was and whether she gets cranky without her Blue Bell. “Yes,” was her immediate reply, and “strawberry” is her favorite. On May 16, 1948 at age fourteen Lucy was confirmed at Salem Lutheran Church, Pastor Walter Wolf officiating, when she declared publicly her intention to continue steadfast in the confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than depart from it. Today Jesus confesses Lorine before the Father. 

Lucy graduated from Brenham High School in 1951. She had moved into town in order to attend Brenham. She played volleyball. When asked, “Were you pretty good?” she responded, “I say I was!” She also excelled academically. Upon graduation she moved to the big city where her first job was doing paper work in a Houston office. In Houston her path crossed with a young soldier Fred T Smith who would become her husband. He was the brother of her sister’s husband, Aunt Nita and Uncle Smitty.

Lorine was joined in marriage to Fred Smith of Aberdeen, Mississippi in the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit on June 1, 1953 in Welcome at Salem Lutheran Church, the Reverend Walter Wolf officiating. Lucy and Fred were blessed with over 61 years of marriage and eight children. An Air Force family, over the first 25 years of their marriage, Lucy and Fred packed up the family and moved nearly every year it seems once the children began school. They lived all over the U.S., including Alaska, and overseas in Okinawa. Lucy and the children spent a couple years State-side while Fred completed year long tours in Viet Nam and Korea. First on her list in each new locale was for Lucy to find the nearest Missouri Synod Lutheran Church for family worship. 

The Fred and Lucy Smith family took up permanent residence in Aberdeen in 1974. While Fred had a few cattle and worked for the State of Mississippi until his retirement in 1993, Lucy worked steadily at Maier’s Jewelry Store and then in the dental office of Dr. Banks Shepherd until she retired in her mid-70’s. She and Fred left 510 Jefferson St. and moved to Amory into a new home in 2011 as the family grew and grew and spread throughout the whole USA. 

Nearly ten years ago, in 2014 Lucy’s beloved Fred was laid to rest after several years of her caring for him. Then when she hit 85 Lucy began to slow down a bit herself, though her love of Christ only continued to increase, as did her love of her growing family. Likewise her zeal for Mississippi State football and baseball (2021 Champs!), the Dallas Cowboys, and professional tennis was unflagging. In her final years, growing weaker in stages, she was cared for in her home by her dear family, with help from several care-givers as well as hospice care at the last. 

Lorine Smith is survived by her sons Norman Smith (Gail) of rural Aberdeen and Thomas Smith (Adrian Anne) of Aberdeen; and her daughters Patricia Benson (†JW) of Smithville, Debra Olson (Thomas) of Columbus, NC, Linda Cullum (David) of Amory, Nancy Tucker (†Mark) of Humble, TX, Dorothy Mayhall of Castle Rock, CO, and Sarah Land (Spencer) of Longview, TX. Also surviving are 22 grandchildren: Justin O’Quinn, Bethany Olson Preus (Erik), Vanessa O’Quinn Bosarge (James), Jonathan Olson (Marie), Jake Tucker, Bonny Cullum Kennedy (Thomas), Katherine Olson Saunders (Erik), Brittney Smith Irvin (Gabe), Blair Cullum, Ross Land, Amy Mayhall Bowers (Alex), Warren Smith, Emily Tucker Fasci (David), Samuel Mayhall, Margaret Land Herndon (Matthew), Mandi Tucker, Sarah Mayhall Roullier (Chase), Josey Land McNeal (Caleb), Elizabeth Cullum Darnell (Reagan), Luke Land, Audie Carolyne Smith, and Thomas-Brunson Smith. Lucy is survived by many, many great grandchildren as well. 

She was preceded in death by her sister Anita and husband Eulis Smith, Jr. and by her brother Daniel Wilke whose wife Nelda of Brenham, Texas survives. She is survived also by sisters-in-law Mildred Smith Allen (†Phillip) and Anita Jean Smith Boyd (†John) and was preceded in death by brother-in-law John Smith (Mabel Howell survives), sisters-in-law Clara Smith Smallwood (†John), Hazel Smith Kitchens (†Charles), and Louise Smith Hanson (†James Hal). 

Jesus’ little lamb since she was taken into Jesus’ arms in infancy and given the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39), Lucy was a lifelong and devoted member of The Evangelical Lutheran Church (a member of Our Savior Lutheran Church--LCMS, Columbus, MS; the Reverend David Hartung, Pastor). She was a faithful, loving, hardworking Christian wife and mother, whose life and faith is summed up in the hymn “By Grace I’m Saved, Grace Free and Boundless.” She loved her Savior Christ Jesus and trusted in Him for forgiveness, life and eternal salvation as well as for the needs of this life. She cherished God’s Word and partook regularly of the True Food of Christ’s Body and Blood, awaiting confidently Christ’s coming, for she knew whom she had believed. 

Even to the last Lucy spent all her days at home in the loving care of her family. Then on the nineteenth day of March in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, surrounded by her six daughters, Lorine Marie Smith peacefully fell asleep in Jesus at the age of 90 years, five months and 24 days when Jesus carried her soul to heaven to present Lorine holy and blameless and irreproachable before His Father (Colossians 1:22). Laid to rest in the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit in New Prospect Cemetery, her body will rest next to that of her husband Fred T Smith until the resurrection of all flesh. †

  Memorials may be given to:    Our Savior Lutheran Church
1211 18^th Avenue N.
Columbus, MS  29701