PATRICIA ANNE BROCK SMITH

AAFA #0064

1932 MS – 2010 MS

ENTERPRISE-JOURNAL

McComb, Pike Co., MS—3 September 2010

            Patricia Anne “Pat” Brock Smith, 78, of the Progress community, died Aug. 31, 2010, at the Cardiovascular Institute of Mississippi in McComb.

            Visitation is 5 to 9 tonight at Hartman-Hughes Funeral Home in Tylertown and 10 a.m. Saturday at Silver Springs Baptist Church until services at 11. The Rev. Byran Wilkinson and the Rev. Wayne Hall will officiate. Burial will be in the Silver Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.

            Mrs. Smith was born July 15, 1932, in Walthall County, to Leslie William and Dollie Lura Smith Brock.

            She owned and operated Smith’s Grocery in Progress. She was a member of Silver Springs Baptist Church, which she served as treasurer and taught a Sunday school class. She was a member of Silver Springs Seniors and was a hospice volunteer. She was a member and former president of the Pike-Amite-Walthall Library Board.

            Mrs. Smith was a 1949 graduate of Lexie High School, where she played basketball. She loved working with genealogy and was a member of the Alford American Family Association, from which she received a Hall of Fame award in 2009. She was a beloved member of the Progress community and will be greatly missed by many.

            She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of 49 years, Fay Seward Smith; one sister, Peggy Brock Stringer; one granddaughter, Tara Smith Leonard and two sisters-in-law, Nathalee Smith Comeaux and Wilma Smith Butler.

            Survivors include two sons, Michael D. Smith and Kim Lee Smith, both of Progress; a daughter, Patricia Gail Smith Hall (AAFA #1258) of Tylertown; a sister, Joana Brock Breeland (AAFA #1142) of Tylertown; a brother-in-law, Cletus Stringer of Southaven; four grandchildren, Tricia Ann Hall and husband Ray McElveen and their children, Will and Mary Grace; James Don Hall Jr., and wife Tena and their daughter, Jaden; Judy Larisa Hall and husband Randall Sheets Sr. and their children, Regan, Larisa, Randall Jr., Zachary and Genell; Dustin Michael Smith and wife Shellie and their children, Sadie Claire, Everhett and Austin; and Jermiah Williams and Samarah Leonard, whose mother was the late Tara Lee Smith Leonard; two step-grandchildren, Jody Lee Stone and children Jody “JoJo” Jr. and Aimee, and Randall Sheets Sr., as mentioned above.

            Pallbearers will be James Hall Jr., Dustin Smith, Ray McElveen, Randall Sheets Sr., Wade Brown and Mac Breeland. Honorary pallbearers will be the deacons of Silver Springs Baptist Church.

Photos from Silver Creek Cemetery, Dykes Crossing, Pike Co., MS—www.findagrave.com

Permission granted by the photographer, Connie Gartman Lozier

Photo from Silver Creek Cemetery, Dykes Crossing, Pike Co., MS—www.findagrave.com

Permission granted by the photographer, Wayne Ellzey

AAFA NOTES: SSDI records confirm the birth and death dates of Patricia B. Smith (SS# issued in MS), last residence McComb, Pike Co., MS.

            AAFA has set up a special Memorial Page for Pat. From there you can access letters, photos, and other items pertaining to her life and her interest in AAFA and her family’s genealogy.

            From Gil Alford:

There is not anyone in AAFA with whom I worked longer than with Pat. She and I were corresponding six months before I began to publish "About Alfords" and years before we had AAFA. She was more or less the only member who knew and visited my parents before she even knew me. I think it would be true to say that had Pat not come on with such enthusiasm and provided me so much information, my interest in family history and genealogy would not have grown to the extent that I would have published About Alfords, which of course led to my starting AAFA.

            Her Alford lineage from her maternal grandmother: Frankie Leoda 1888 LA³, Jeptha Martin 1862 LA⁴, John Seaborn 1807 LA⁵, Jacob 1761 NC⁶, Julius 1717 VA⁷, James 1687 VA⁸, John 1645 VA⁹.