Mary Kay Smith

Mary Kay Smith, was born in Houston on the 10th of November 1940, to Kenneth and Allie Nold “Jerry” Manning. She passed away peacefully at home on Saturday the 26th of September 2026, with her husband of sixty-three years, Louis Smith, and her elder son, Matthew Smith at her side.

Mary Kay lived in Houston until the age of 21. After completing her high school studies at Mirabeau B. Lamar Senior High School in 1958, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in French, magna cum laude, at Rice University in 1962, and her Master of Arts in French at Stanford University in 1967. She was also awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree by LaGrange College (Georgia) in 2023. For all her life, Mary Kay was able to enjoy to the fullest her various passions: small churches, education, travel, photography, foreign languages, music, and Astros baseball.

Mary Kay and Louis met at Rice in the fall of 1959 when they were both participating in something of an amateur hour production called the Senior Follies. Mary Kay claims that Louis was throwing spit balls at her; Louis denies it. They became engaged after both graduated from Rice in 1962, with Mary Kay immediately moving to California for her one year at Stanford and Louis moving to Kingsville, Texas to begin his career with Exxon. Although Mary Kay had spent the summer of 1959 in France, their marriage and their joint international life both began in 1963 when the US Army informed Louis that his two-year ROTC military obligation was to be served in France. Since they had just gotten married, those years were like a two-year honeymoon!

After the Army, Louis returned to Exxon and they lived one year in Kingsville, two years in Refugio, Texas (where Mary Kay taught French and English in the high school), and two years in Portland, Texas. Then life got exciting again. In 1970, Exxon moved them to London, England for six years. Both of their children were born there, Matthew in 1971 and Andrew in 1975. In 1976, the family moved to Stavanger, Norway for five and a half years (where Mary Kay was frequently a tour guide leading petroleum wives on trips to France), followed by Miami in 1981 for two years, and then Saudi Arabia in 1983 for what turned out to be only six months due to a reorganization. For the rest of Louis’ career, they were based in the US even though his work was all international. They lived in Houston for two years, Mountain Lakes, New Jersy for six years, and finally back to Houston. After Louis retired in 1998, they bought a cabin in central Minnesota where they spent several months every summer, plus most Thanksgivings and Christmases.

For their entire married life, Mary Kay and Louis made many trips, all of which were documented by her passion for photography. They also established close relationships with two very fine, relatively small colleges, St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia.

Mary Kay is survived by her husband, Louis Smith; her sons, Matthew Smith and his wife Janet Hughes, and Andrew Smith; her grandchildren, Owen Smith, and Anna Smith; her brother-in-law Irv Smith and his wife Jane Bowman Smith; as well as numerous nephews, nieces, great nephews, and great nieces.

A memorial service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday, the 14th of November, at St. Thomas Presbyterian Church, 14100 Memorial Drive in Houston, where the Rev. Wilma Harris is to officiate.

Immediately following, all will be invited to greet the family during a reception to be held in nearby Fellowship Hall.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that any memorial donations be made in Mary Kay’s honor to St. Thomas Presbyterian Church by selecting the link below under "Donations."

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