Joan King

Joan Smith King, of Georgetown, Texas, passed away October 29. Another member of the greatest generation has left us.Joan was born in Dallas to Ida and Hoke Smith in 1922. She was the middle of five children. After public schools in Dallas, she attended Southern Methodist University, then transferred to the University of Texas in Austin. While there she met and married, in 1942, Lawrence S. Smith, a recent graduate of US Army Air Corps pilot training in San Antonio. To them were born sons Larry, in 1943, and Richard, in 1945. Capt. Smith was lost at sea on an escort mission from Iwo Jima to Japan in June 1945.After the war, Joan completed her bachelor’s degree and a master’s in psychology at UT. Then, from 1955 to 1958 she was the Dean of Women at Southwestern University in Georgetown. After that she returned with her family to Dallas, where she was for many years Director of Housing at SMU. She was also active in her professional associations, serving a term as President of the National Association of Women Deans and Counselors.In 1965 she married Dr. Morton King, a professor of sociology at SMU. Theirs was a long, strong and happy marriage that ended only with Morton’s death in 2013.When Joan and Morton both retired from SMU in 1979, they chose to return to Georgetown to be near their family in central Texas. They restored an old home there as their residence and took an active part in the civic life of the town. In 1984 Joan was elected to the first of two terms on the city council, the first woman to serve in that capacity.She leaves behind to treasure her memory sons Richard Smith and Larry Smith and his wife, Dineen Majcher, grandchildren Layton, Shannon, Gregory and Eleanor Smith, and four great-grandchildren.A memorial service will be held Nov. 9 at 4:00 pm at Grace Episcopal Church, 1314 East University, in Georgetown. A reception at the church will follow.