Bettie Ruth Smith

Our dear mother, Bettie Ruth Jones Smith, joyously passed away on October 10, 2023. One couldn’t ask for a better mother or role model. She was a wonderful wife, sister, aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother as well. She had many friends and was a well-loved member of the community in Olive Branch, Mississippi. She was also very active in Maples Memorial United Methodist Church.

She was predeceased by her loving husband of 64 years, Ruben Marshall Smith, Jr., her brother, Paul Jones, and her sister, Myldred Jones Krueger. She is survived by her favorite son Kenneth Mark Smith, son Bruce David Smith (who became the new favorite son at his birth), and daughter “Princess” Laura Kay Smith Cornwell (who usurped both brothers at her birth), as well as many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

Mom was a very caring person and offered family support during her kids’ countless little league baseball and softball games, music concerts and recitals (including, yes, accordion concerts), little league baseball and softball games, dance recitals (Laura’s Bumblebee performance was epic), little league baseball and softball games, cheerleading competitions, and more little league baseball and softball games.

Mom was exacting and we all grew to appreciate her wisdom and high standards as we grew older and wiser. More than once as kids we had to rely on her score-keeping abilities as she was meticulous in recording the results of little league baseball and softball games. Her cold-cut trays (which appeared at extended family gatherings) are legendary and still remembered fondly by many as are her fried chicken tailgating dinners in The Grove at Ole Miss. Fruit-cutting knife skills (learned under her watchful eye in preparing for holiday dinners) are carried forward to today whenever a fruit salad is prepared. The personal discipline she taught resulted in traits from which we all still benefit.

Mom was inducted into the Ole Miss family at marriage to Ruben and remained a loyal member until her passing. She found this year’s football win over LSU particularly satisfying. She could, however, be caught rooting for Mark’s Tennessee Volunteers whenever Ole Miss wasn’t playing Tennessee. Her sons made her into a St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan and they gratefully remember summer trips to St. Louis to see ballgames as kids.

Mostly, though, Mom was unqualified love. All new members of the extended family (no matter how they came into the family) were joyfully welcomed. It’s hard to find a photograph of her alone as she usually was surrounded by various family members. She was happiest when she had a lapful of great-grandbabies. After 95 years of the happiest life imaginable she is finally reunited with Ruben.

A funeral service will be held on Sunday, October 15, 2023 at 2:00 pm with visitation beginning at 1:00 pm at Brantley Funeral Home, 6875 Cockrum St. Olive Branch, MS 38654. A short reception to follow at Brantley Funeral Home.

If you prefer to make a donation in lieu of flowers donations can be made to:

Maples Memorial United Methodist Church, 8745 Goodman Rd. Olive Branch, MS 38654

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.brantleyfuneral.com for the Smith family.