Thelma Azalea Smith

Called Lea by her friends, Mom and Mom-Mom by her family, she was born April 23, 1916, in Noonday, TX, to James Alton Glass and Fannie Virginia Bigham Glass. She lived in Bullard and Albany before graduating high school in Iraan in 1933. She married Manie White and had two boys. Lea and Manie began their young family in Corpus Christi where she loved being close to the Gulf.

Later the family relocated to Odessa and both boys graduated from Odessa High School then Texas Christian University. Her oldest son, FM, Cisco to friends and Sonny to family, graduated OHS in 1954 and became sports editor for the Odessa American before passing away in 1974. Her youngest son, Ken, graduated OHS in 1956, and currently lives in Fort Worth.

After the loss of Manie to cancer in 1957 she married Boyd Smith and moved to Lubbock where her home became a gathering place for family and friends. She and Boyd had an apartment in Dallas where she enjoyed the azaleas and spring flowers along Turtle Creek. Her love of the flowers lasted throughout her life and every spring Ken and his son, Jamie, would take her to Dallas to see them. She also appreciated the beauty of nature and the view of “Old Baldy” from the balcony of their condo in Ruidoso, NM.

She was a master chef and loved cooking for family and friends. Her artistic abilities were displayed throughout their homes on needlepoint pieces that she diligently created. After a stroke she moved to Fort Worth where time was spent mainly with her doting family while living at Vantage Retirement and later Courtyard at River Plaza. Crippled by rheumatoid arthritis, she became an avid reader and sailed through books faster than her favorite authors could write them.

Family was everything to Lea and she was everything to them. She was the true matriarch of her family and the perfect example how to live life with gratitude, dignity and grace. She will be deeply missed by everyone who was fortunate enough to love and be loved by her.

Lea is preceded in death by her parents, husbands and son FM.

She is survived by son Ken; grandchildren Frank White and his wife Karen, Scott White, Jamie White, Julia White Wade and her husband Mark; great-grandchildren Ashley White, Morgan Temple, Walker and William Wade.

Graveside services will be held at 2 pm Saturday, May 9, 2015, at Sunset Memorial Gardens.

Services entrusted to Hubbard-Kelly Funeral Home.