Thelma Geneveive Smith

May 20, 1917 - August 15, 2023

On Tuesday, August 15, Thelma G. Miles-Smith departed this earth at age 106 and transitioned to her heavenly home.

Thelma Genevive Miles was the middle of three daughters born to Maggie Ferguson & James Miles on May 20, 1917, at their home in Washington, DC.

She attended Lucretia Mott Elementary School and Garnet Patterson Jr. High School before graduating in 1934 from Dunbar Senior High.

Thelma married George Phillip Marshall in 1935 and divorced in 1946. Two years later, she married the love of her life, Guy Walker Smith. The couple moved to Los Angeles, CA, in 1961, and lived a blissful life together for 50 years until he passed in 1998. Thelma returned to her birth place, Washington, DC in July of 2019 to live with her great niece Helen.

In DC, she worked at the Howard Theatre, The Afro-American Ledger newspaper, and the Dunbar Hotel, before a long career at the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation in LA.

Thelma was very stylish, caring, giving, lovable, and charismatic. She had a strong sense of humor accompanied by an unforgettable laugh, so she was fun to be around. She loved spending time with family and friends cutting the rug, singing, dining out, and shopping. She always rode shotgun, especially on the way to the casino with her nephew Tarik (BooBoo),

Thelma was a socialite who attended some of the best parties and events, mingling with glitterati such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Tina Turner, Quincy Jones, Roberta Flack, and Aretha Franklin, to name just a few. Thelma was the life of every party.

Over the course of 106 years, she lived through two pandemics, influenza in 1918 and COVID-19 in 2020.

She was predeceased by her husband, Guy Smith; parents, Maggie Ferguson, and James Miles; sisters, Lucille Miles and Helen Queen; nephews, George Queen, Russell Queen, and Michael Queen; and great nephew, Ken Queen.

Thelma leaves to cherish her memory: niece Rosslyn Queen Anderson, nephews, Guy Queen, Gary Queen, Lance Eddins (Michelle), and Gordon Smith (Nancy); a cousin, Louise Miles, great niece Helen Foster and Wynter Eddins; a multitude of great nieces, great nephews, great-great nieces, and great-great nephews; and a host of family and friends.

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