Barbara "Billie" May Smith Hain

Barbara May Smith Hain (“Billie”) is finally Home with her Heavenly Father, adored husband, and dearly loved son. A gentle, modest, and patriotic Christian of perpetual curiosity, quiet intelligence, and many talents, Billie passed away peacefully on Wednesday February 17, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas at the age of 88. Billie was born April 12, 1932 in Washington DC at the Columbia Hospital for Women to William Morrison Smith (“Bill”) and Lucille May Stone Smith. He was a first generation American from Scotland, a graduate of Edinburgh University, and a CPA/lawyer in DC. Lucille was a talented pianist, artist, and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. They were both members of the Chevy Chase Country Club, where they were avid and trophied golfers. Billie was orphaned at the age of five, and then lived with her maternal grandmother, May Clements Stone, until she married.

Billie was a volunteer at the USO, which is where she met her future husband John Jackson Hain (“Jack”) who was serving in the US Navy as a photographer. After their marriage on August 7, 1950, they lived in Arlington, Virginia where they loved ice skating, socializing with fellow naval couples, and learning to play Liverpool Rummy and 42. Arlington is where Billie began her life-long career teaching piano. They lived in Florida for a time before moving to Lawton, Oklahoma where Jack continued his photography career in Civil Service at Fort Sill. After their third child was born in 1958, they moved to El Paso, Texas where Jack went to work for White Sands Missile Range. They were charter members of Mountain View Baptist Church, calling that congregation home for many years. Billie was church pianist for over 40 years and served as President of the Women’s Missionary Union. To the family, Jack seemed to fill just about every role in the church at one time or other, but his true love was the time he spent singing to and about his Savior - in the choir, in quartets, and wherever else he could. After raising their five children, they joined many of their friends at First Baptist Church of El Paso, where she continued occasionally playing the piano and playing in the bell choir. Friday Game Nights would often find them engaged in their passion for 42.

Throughout her life, Billie pursued a wide variety of interests - most of them creative. She continued teaching piano throughout their marriage, and it was one of her greatest joys - something she had planned to do for the rest of her life. She served as a member on the board of the El Paso Music Teachers Association from 1968 to 2015 and was rewarded an honor for her many years of faithful service. Billie was also an artist. She showed and sold many of her oil paintings at gallery events. Some of her sketched ink drawings revealed her wit with political and marital satire. She loved gardening, needlework, and crochet. She was an enthusiastic lifelong learner and pursued History at the University of Texas at El Paso. It was impossible to put a book down without her snatching it up and reading it. She was greatly interested in history and politics (probably inherited from her maternal grandfather, Stuart Basham Stone, a published politics and fiction author) and did not hesitate to pen a letter to the editor of the El Paso Times with her opinions on those topics.

Billie valued God and family above all else and was deeply attached to – and proud of – her family. She brought five children into the world and dearly loved being with each of her “chickens," spending as much time with them as possible. Reading and playing games together were two of her very favorite pastimes. She loved to go on walks with her children and grandchildren while sharing nuggets of wisdom and advice with them. She and Jack enjoyed traveling with the family and blessed them with many happy memories. Vacation typically meant family trips around the Americas, fun times during summers at the family cabin in Cloudcroft, and Full Moon Nights at White Sands together - often with lots of friends and extended family. She especially loved trips to DC where she could share the experiences of her younger life and guide the family through the many historical sites in the Maryland, DC, and Virginia areas. Billie and Jack bonded their expanding family of children and grandchildren together with faith, hope, love, and a generous dose of fun. They made their passion for music infectious, passing it on to the generations that followed. The fondest memories the family has are in sharing music and adventures together.

Billie's greatest sorrows were the death of their 54-year-old son Kenneth William Hain (“Kenny”) and her 86-year-old husband of 65 years. Her greatest hope - outside of her own future with her Savior - was in knowing they have their futures with Him as well.

Survivors include four of Billie’s children and eight grandchildren: daughter Barbara Janette Hain Draving (“Jan”), her husband Bill, and their son Wolfgang Forbes Draving; son John Alan Hain (“Alan”), his wife Susan, his son John Brooks Hain and granddaughter Brielan, and daughter Stephanie Marie Hain; son David Kevin Hain, his wife Dannette, and their sons Collin Matthew Hain and Mason Andrew Hain, and daughter Raegen Elizabeth Hain; and son Robert Morrison Hain (“Rob”), his wife Leanne, and their daughter Erin Nichole Hain Aadland (married to Josh Aadland) and son Ethan Robert Hain.

There will be a private family celebration of her life at the "Little Ranchito" outside of San Antonio, where she was fond of visiting and making countless happy family memories. Interment will be at Fort Bliss National Cemetery with her husband in El Paso, Texas at a future date.

Barbara May Smith Hain

“Billie, Mother, Nannie”

1932-2021

Christ Follower

Faithful Wife

Beloved Mother

Cherished Grandmother

Till We Meet Again…