Shirley Jean Smith's Obituary
On the afternoon of April 14, 2025, Shirley passed away peacefully in Ft Worth, Texas. Shirley was 89 years old.
Mother of three boys and a devoted wife, Shirley was born in Wink Texas on June 2, 1935, the second child of Lawrence David McGarvey and Monica Winifred McNeff (Wilson). Her very early life was spent in Monahans and Peyote, Texas. Later she grew up in Dallas where she met her husband, Richard Earle Smith. After they married, they resided for 2 years in Biloxi, Mississippi and then settled in Arlington, Texas where they lived for more than 50 years.
Shirley was a housewife who cared deeply for her three children and her husband, Richard.
She was expert at crochet and knitting. She was also a seamstress making clothes for Richard and square dance outfits for them both. Shirley also loved to paint and had many varied arts and crafts projects going on at any time including scrapbooking and photography. After Richards passing, Shirley bought a piano, took lessons and fulfilled a lifelong dream to play the piano.
She loved traveling and camping with the boys and later with Richard. They traveled extensively around Texas and later further afield; first in a travel trailer and later in a Winnebago and on to a 5th wheel trailer. After Richards passing Shirley made many trips to Hawaii and took her granddaughter, Megan, on one of those trips. Shirley also went to a family reunion in Ireland with Steven in 2015. She also made several trips, both abroad and domestic with another travel companion, Rose Callaway.
She loved to read and visited the library frequently.
From about 1970, she worked at Corrine Crow Elementary school; first in the cafeteria and later in the library. Shirley loved children and was a natural teacher's aide reading to and teaching young students to read.
After Richard passed in 2005, she lived with her sister Elizabeth until Elizabeth’s passing.
Later in her life she found a new home in Euless, TX at the Oaks 55 Apartments. There she made many friends and was loved by all. Shirley greeted everyone with a smile. She was always happy and never met a stranger. Her presence was always a blessing to anyone around her.
Shirley was preceded in death by her husband Richard Earle Smith; her parents; her sister Elisabeth McGarvey Petersen, her son, William Earle Smith and grandson, Richard Anthony Smith.
Shirley is survived by her sister Barbara McGarvey of Muncie, Indiana; two sons James Lawrence Smith and Steven Richard Smith, MD; daughter-in-law Claudia (Callaway) Smith; granddaughter Megan (Smith) Mauk and her husband Drew Mauk; grandson and spouse, William Matthew Smith and Anne Schellhase and their sons Chase and Jordan of Mont Belvieu, TX; Granddaughter and spouse Rachel Lauren (Smith) Woodall and Daren Woodall and their daughters Emma of Cypress, TX; grandson Mitchell Douglas Smith and Granddaughter Arden Noel (Smith) Whitley and her husband Lee Chi Kong Whitley of Austin, TX.
Please consider making a donation to: The Friends and Foundation of the Arlington Public Library at
https://ffapl.net/
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