Frances Reynolds (Hodges) Smitherman (1919 - 2007)

Born 9 Oct 1919 in Cotton Valley, Webster, Louisiana, United States

Died 11 May 2007 at age 87 in Shreveport, Caddo, Louisiana, United States

Obituary

Mrs. James Emory Smitherman, Jr. died Friday, May 11, 2007 after a brief illness. Services will be held in the Sanctuary of First Baptist Church, Shreveport, Louisiana, 543 Ockley at 1:00 p.m., Monday, May 14, 2007. Burial at Forest Park Cemetery, St. Vincent Avenue will follow. Officiating will be Dr.Greg Hunt, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Shreveport and Dr. Tom Harrison, Executive Pastor of Broadmoor Baptist Church and musical solos by Natalie Jagers. Visitation with the family will be held in the church parlor prior to the service between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

Frances Reynolds Hodges Smitherman was born October 9, 1919 in Cotton Valley, Webster Parish, Louisiana to Andrew Jackson "A.J." and Nona Trigg Hodges. They moved to Shreveport in 1924, where Frances attended South Highlands School, C.E. Byrd High School, Centenary College, and Colorado University, where she earned her B.A. degree and Private Pilot's license.

On December 26, 1942, Frances married James Emory Smitherman, Jr., and lived three years in Goldsboro, North Carolina, while Jim served in the U.S. Army Air Corp legal department at Seymour Johnson Army Air Corp Base.

Frances and Jim were married and enjoyed 36 years together, before his death in 1978.

Mrs. Smitherman was a member of First Baptist Church, Bible Study Fellowship, the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier, Chairman of the Junior League Sustainer Book Club, and Sustainer of the Year in 2003. She was an early President of the Shreveport Panhellenic Council and devoted herself to many other organizations, including Chi Omega Fraternity and Alumni Association (an active member for 70 years); the Nation Society of the Colonial Dames of America; Friends of the Spring Street Museum; the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum; the American Rose Center; the Shreveport Art Guild; the English Speaking Union; and the Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal. For many years she served on the Board of the Shreveport-Bossier Rescue Mission. She was a Life Member of the Shreveport Opera Guild, Symphony Guild, the Little Theater Guild, and was a Vice-President of the Women's Department Club. She was a member of the Shreveport Club and the Cotillion Club. Mrs. Smitherman was a former Board Member of the Holiday in Dixie Cotillion, and she and her late husband implemented the first Merry Makers Dinner. Jim Smitherman was the 26th Cotillion King and Mrs. Smitherman continued to be a member of the King's Cotillion group.

One of her favorite interests was Hodges Gardens in Many, Louisiana, which had been built by her mother and father and opened to the public in 1955.

Mrs. Smitherman was preceded in death by her parents, A.J. and Nona Trigg Hodges, her husband, James Emory Smitherman, Jr., and her sister, Virginia Hodges Jeter, and her brother, Andrew Jackson Hodges, Jr. She is survived . . . ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #19347834