Miss Julia Ann Smith of Clarkton, NC died on February 1, 2022 at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare after a period of declining health. She was born during the height of the Great Depression on May 12, 1929 in Clarkton, NC as the youngest of eight children to the late Hoke Baird and Minnie High Smith. Her father was a farmer and Columbus County Deputy Sheriff who was shot by bootleggers on December 31, 1929. He died from those gunshot wounds on May 13, 1930, shortly after her first birthday. She and her youngest brother Kenneth (Bill) were born a little over a year apart and became inseparable as they grew up together without a father figure.
Miss Smith lost her mother of natural causes on August 7, 1989. She was preceded in death by her three brothers, Kenneth (Bill) Elwood Smith (Gracie), Hoke Baird (H.B) Smith Jr (Betty) and Daniel Maurice Smith (Doris); her four sisters, Juanita Hahn (Clyde), Marguerite Cornwell (Alfred), Joyce Weathers (William) and Eula Blanchard (Paul). Miss Smith never married.
She is survived by her sister-in-law, Gracie D. Smith of Whiteville, NC, who she thanked many times for letting her treat her eight children as if they were her own. She is also survived by twenty-one nieces and nephews, at least 16 great nieces and nephews, more than twenty great-great nieces and nephews and her faithful furry companion, Queenie.
Miss Smith answered her true calling and trained at Baker’s Hospital in Robeson County and became a registered nurse. She lived in Lumberton, NC and worked at Southeastern General Hospital, Inc. for thirty-eight years before retiring in 1989 to care for her aging mother. After caring for her mother until her death in August of 1989 and caring for her sister, Marguerite until her death in November of 1989. She began teaching nursing at Southeastern Community College and taught until her second retirement in 1991. She stayed active for a time by also managing the Farmer’s Market in Whiteville and volunteering at Help Mission. She was the oldest member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Clarkton, NC.
The visitation will be held Saturday, February 5, 2022 from 10:00 to 11:00 AM at Peacock Funeral Home.
Her funeral service will be held Saturday, February 5, 2022 at 11:00 AM in the Peacock Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Coy Long officiating. A private burial will follow in the Mt. Zion Baptist Church Cemetery, Clarkton, NC. Miss Smith will be interred next to her father, mother and her brother, Maurice.
Flowers are welcome and donations may be made to Mt. Zion Baptist Church Cemetery Maintenance Fund.
The family requests social distancing and wearing masks for protection of all.
