Evelyn Coggins Smith
February 27, 2007 ~ February 27, 2007
Resided in:
Asheville, NC
EVELYN COGGINS SMITH
October 3, 1923 – February 24, 2007
Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, teacher.
Evelyn Coggins Smith died Saturday, February 24 at The Laurels of Summit Ridge Nursing Home in Asheville, NC, where she had been a resident for a brief period. Her husband, James Wallace Smith, was by her side.
She was a native of Greenville, SC, graduated from Parker High School in 1940 and from Furman University in 1944. She taught second grade at Summit Drive School in Greenville for 25 years. Evelyn and husband, Wallace, were charter members of Northside United Methodist Church in Greenville.
She will be missed by husband, James Wallace Smith; daughter, Nan Smith Davis; son, Marion Wallace Smith and wife Barbara, his sons, Ben and Layton, and her son, Mark Alan Smith, his wife, Melinda, and his daughters Sara, Emily, and son Bobby.
There will be a graveside service for the family at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Greenville at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 3. A memorial service will be held at Northside Methodist Church, 435 Summit Drive at 1:00 p.m., reception to follow.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Smith Travel and Fellowship Club, Northside Methodist Church, 435 Summit Drive, Greenville, SC 29609.
Dear Uncle Wallace, Nan, Wally, Mark and family,
My sincerest heartfelt condolences on the passing of Aunt Evelyn. She helped to make sweet childhood memories for me…especially the summer swim days, complete with hamburgers, games and naps. Her life brought joy to so many others.
May each of you be blessed with the peace that transends all understanding.
Love,
Allison (Faye) Coggins
1351 Andy Street, Apt.# 211
Abilene, Texas 79605
Oh- my beloved 2nd grade teacher from 1978! We all loved Mrs. Smith! I remember being a mayor in the play she put on and doing lots of fun activities with reading. She even had me and two of my best friends over to her house in the summer to swim at the neighborhood pool… I’ll never forget meeting her three legged dog. Mrs. Smith was so kind- she will be missed.
Dear Wallace,
Just wanted to let you know that you are on our minds and in our prayers.Your actions were the perfect example of devotion and love to one’s spouse and we know that Evelyn appreciated every moment of that attention. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday as do all of the Northside members.
Our love,
Russell and Mabel
My two sisters and I all studied with Mrs. Smith for Grade 2 at Summit Drive Elementary School. I’m convinced that Mrs. Smith had a key role in developing my future career of being a writer. The following points are just a few of the lasting memories I hold from her classes.
1. Writing stories based on photos. The only photo I remember, however, is one of a man hiding behind a giant stack of pancakes.
2. Singing a song with a record about dinosaurs.
3. Receiving redhots as reward for taking the BSAP test.
4. Calling Kelley Price ‘stupid’ as a line in some play we acted out on Thanksgiving, and thinking that was hilarious.
5. Having a problem with me knee (which turned out to be that my hip hadn’t fully fused yet) and I went to school with Hot and Cold ointment smeared on my knee and encased with a gray legwarmer and Kelley and Melanie Rick accused me of eating peppermints when they smelled the ointment.
6. I remember feeling some of the first pangs of guilt and culpability and being ‘bad’ when I knowingly drew a square on a carbon copy of a test that I knew Mrs. Smith was going to mimeograph.
7. Mrs. Smith had some weird contraption on No-smoking Day, and she lit a cigarette in the classroom and held it against a paper picture of a lung to demonstrate just how destructive tobacco was to our bodies.
8. Learning the planets. She had modls strung from the ceiling, and she had some old globe with gold arms of hte plants that circled around it. I remember looking at that model and feeling totally confounded by the reality of a scale model versus what it was meant to represent.
Your wife, mother, friend, relative touched many, many, many people in her life, and it makes me happy to know that at least three Mitchell girls retain fond memories of her, and hte meaningful ways in which she influenced our lives.