Miriam Wellman Smith

After ninety-six wonderfully happy years, Meme Smith died peacefully on May 22, 2023, having been visited by family and friends. Meme was born to Walter and Ruth Northington Wellman in Huntsville, Alabama on October 17, 1926. Because of the effects of the Great Depression on her father’s textile business, the family moved to Athens where she grew up. She graduated from Athens High and attended UGA. Always interested in good fun, Meme, her equally attractive sisters Dorothy Anne and Ruth—known fondly as the “Wellman Sisters”—as well as their soon to be sister-in-law Carroll McGill, enjoyed Greek life to the fullest as members of the Chi Omega Sorority. But it was Army Air Corps pilot, Rankin McEachern Smith, whose eye she caught, and they were married in 1946. They moved to Atlanta and together raised five children. Happy with life from beginning to end, she loved traveling (especially adventurous game viewing trips to Africa in the 1970s), Falcons football, family holidays, entertaining friends at her cabin at Lake Burton, visiting Seminole Plantation in Thomasville, pursuing her interests in the antiques business with far reaching buying sprees, and taking time to experience the quiet of Cumberland Island. She enjoyed her memberships in Forward Arts Foundation and Poppy Garden Club and her friends in her Sewing Club (dating back to 1948). If ever there was a person who was “loved by all,” it was she. She nonjudgmentally accepted everyone for whom they were and stood by her family and friends through thick and thin. To be around her was a great joy. Happily, she was one who left this world a better place. She will be missed, but her memory will live on with all who knew her.

Meme is survived by her son, Rankin McEachern Smith, Jr. (Jill); daughter, Dorothy Anne Smith Hines (Richard); son, Taylor Wellman Smith (Deidra); daughter, Karen Smith Berger (Joe); 13 grandchildren and their respective spouses; 23 great grandchildren; sister, Ruth Wellman Morris (Jimmy); many nieces and nephews; and caregivers, LaTanya Ballock, Mireille Michel, Stephanie Pettway, and Nan Davis. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Carroll Smith Walraven (Jim Smith); her brother, Walter Morton Wellman, Jr. (Carroll); and her sister, Dorothy Anne Voegeli (Bill); in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Lovett School at lovett.org/support/make-a-gift and Forward Arts Foundation, 3130 Slaton Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30305. A memorial service for family members only will be held at 11:30 am, Thursday, May 25 at The Cathedral of St. Philip, 2744 Peachtree Rd., NW, Atlanta, GA 30305.