Gelene Burleson Smith

gelene smith

September 5, 1921 ~ February 12, 2003


Resided in: Asheville, NC

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Gelene Burleson Smith, 81, of 220 East Oakview Road, Asheville, died Wednesday, February 12, 2003, at a local hospital. A native of Buncombe County, she was a daughter of the late James Roscoe and Aletha Mae Burleson. She was also preceded in death by her husband, Archie Smith, who died in 1999; two sons, James D. Burleson and Jerry B. Smith; a grandson, Rory Phillips and a great-grandson, Devan Phillips. She was a 1938 graduate of Sand Hill High School where she was All Buncombe County and All Conference in basketball and Miss Sand Hill. Mrs. Smith was a dedicated mother to her family and is survived by eight children, Gail Crawford and Chris Hagood, both of Asheville and Gwenda Phillips, Donna Hamlin, Ronnie Smith, Lanny Smith, Tony Smith and Wayne Smith, all of Candler; 24 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Graveside services will be 1:00 pm Saturday at Pisgah View Memorial Park. Her family will receive friends from 11:00-12:30 pm Saturday at Groce Funeral Home on Patton Avenue prior to the service. Memorials may be made to the Rory Phillips Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o RBC Centura Bank, 1007 Smoky Park Highway, Candler, NC 28715.

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  1. Dear Gwenda, Chris, and Tony,
    Chuck and I are holding you and your family in our prayers. God is faithful and he will uphold you during this time, but please know that we are here for any of you at any time.
    Love, Chuck and Sandi Sprinkle

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  3. We are praying for you during your time of loss. May God richly bless you and provide comfort, grace, and peace.

    Chris, Janet, Tara and Nathan Roberts

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  4. GWENDA, MIKE AND I WERE VERY SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THE LOSS OF YOUR MOTHER. WE CERTAINLY KNOW THE LOSS AND PAIN THAT YOU FEEL AT THIS TIME.
    PLEASE KNOW THAT WE WILL BE PRAYING FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
    SINCERELY,
    LINDA AND MIKE FRADY

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  5. Gail and Family,
    Please know that I will be with you in thought and prayer. I know well the loss of a mother. Our mother’s shared the same birthday. May the Lord give you peace.

    Ethel

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  6. Nanny, it’s been a long time since I was blessed with hearing your laughter, or seeing your beautiful smile…but not a lot of days go by that I don’t think of you..one of your jokes, a holiday meal with all the family at your house or one of the many lessons of life you taught me. Almost 20 years since I’ve heard your voice, but it’s still just as loud still just as intimidating..still just as comforting as it was every day I was blessed to share my day with you. And everytime I have thought of you over the years my day has been just as blessed as if you were still standing next to me in the garden hoeing tomatoes, in the pear tree collecting what we were gonna can that year or running to Mc Donald’s to get a burger to put a slice of your home grown tomatoes on.. I can still hear that unmistakably beautifully unique tinkling of your laughter as you laughed at Stone because he was able to fit 27 grapes in his 2 yr old jaws at one go..and you saying Arch woulda had a run for his money with a mouth like that…and you staring into Cheyenne’s strikingly gorgeous big green eyes and twisting her thick splash of golden brown curls around your finger and telling me I might wanna take some kind of lessons in fighting or self defense if I was to expect to keep this little girl at home safe and sound…I smile everytime I think of you Nanny and wish we could just have one more talk or play one more hand of rook..and to this day I haven’t had as much fun with anyone other than you or my kids..I hope you can see this from your celestial seat in Heaven and feel even a fraction of the love that I still carry in my heart for you. I miss you so much but I’m not sad that our time was short..we sure did tend to squeeze as much fun and sunshine and love out of our time together as any nanny and grand daughter could. Love you and will miss you til I see you again. More than you could even guess. Eternal Hugs and Kisses

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