22 Jul 1927 – 29 May 2020
Marie McCormack Smoots died on May 29, 2020 after battling Alzheimer’s disease for 7 years. No memorial service is planned at this time and interment will be a small virtual event. Born in the small country town of Emmet, Arkansas to Harrel McCormack and Lena Wiggins on July 22, 1927, Marie was the fourth of five children. Delivered by a country doctor on her family’s farm, the doctor recorded Marie’s birthdate as July 22 with her mother insistent that Marie was born on July 20. Marie graduated from Little Rock Central High School in 1946. She attended Little Rock University, Los Angeles City College and obtained a Certificate of Interior Design from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1975. Marie pursued several career paths including secretarial work (exceptionally fast typist), court stenographer, commercial artist, interior designer, legal secretary, real estate broker, notary public, and small business owner (specialty plastics and commercial arts). She was a member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). Married briefly to Adrian Brewer in January 1952, they divorced in November 1954. Marie relocated to Los Angeles and married Vernon Smoots, a founding partner in the Dames and Moore Consulting Company. Marie was a devoted mother to two children, Neil and Teresa, as well as stepmother to Raymond Smoots. After retirement in 1988, Marie returned to Little Rock to be near her father and other relatives. She resumed part-time work as office manager for Alps Inc., a plastic laminating company in Little Rock. Marie enjoyed painting, sculpturing, mosaics, needlepoint, quilting, photography, and gardening. She delighted in Sonic hamburgers brought to her by beloved sister Norma Huck. She regularly attended productions at Murray’s Dinner Playhouse and every Thanksgiving would head to the old Peabody Hotel in downtown Little Rock to watch the ducks march around the fountain in the hotel lobby.
Marie took the road less traveled during her adventurous life. She loved all of God’s creatures, especially cats and dogs. A devout Christian Scientist, she studied scripture almost every day. Marie is survived by closest relatives Neil Smoots (son) and wife Kathi of California, Norma Huck (sister) and Kim Lowman (niece) of Little Rock. Marie was predeceased by daughter Teresa Smoots, stepson Raymond Smoots, former husband Vernon Allen Smoots and brothers Jack McCormack, Clyde ‘Pete’ McCormack, and Aubrey Lee McCormack. Memorial remembrances may be made to the Humane Society of Pulaski County, 14600 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock, AR 72210 or to the Arkansas Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, 10201 West Markham, Suite 100, Little Rock, AR 72205.
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