Mary Lin Smith

Mary Lin Patterson Smith, 87, went to be with her Lord on April 4, 2007. Services will be held Saturday, April 7, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. at Brewer Baptist Church, on Highway 42 East of Richton, Mississippi with burial in the Frisco Cemetery. Visitation will be at Brewer Baptist Church from 1:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. Mrs. Smith was a lifelong public school teacher and the wife of Rev. James A. Smith, deceased 2006, who pastored Fernwood Baptist Church and Gulf Garden Baptist Church in Gulfport and Pine Grove Baptist Church in Picayune. Mrs. Smith, affectionately known as "Ms Mary Lin" was born in Clinton, Mississippi, where she spent her childhood and later attended Mississippi College. Growing up in the home of a Bible professor and preacher, she developed a heart for missions at a young age and dreamed of being a missionary to Brazil. After graduating from Mississippi College in 1940, she taught elementary school until her marriage to Rev. James A. Smith of Richton, Mississippi, to whom she was married for sixty-three years. She devoted herself to supporting his ministry in various churches in Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Colorado, California, and Louisiana. Through the years, she always taught Sunday School classes, sang in the choir, and worked in church mission organizations. Her career as an educator spanned for thirty-eight years, the last twenty-four in Picayune, Mississippi, where she was employed until she was seventy-three. During her later teaching career, Mrs. Smith specialized in children with learning disabilities and taught many disabled and homebound children. After retiring, she continued to tutor children in her home for several years. She loved children, cats and animals of every sort. Flowers, music and the beauty of nature thrilled her. She was preceded in death by her husband, who passed away in 2006; her parents, M. O. Patterson and Marguerite Pettis Patterson; brothers, Will J. Patterson, Eugene Patterson, and Joseph Patterson; and sisters, Marguerite Rogers and Edith Wilson. Mrs. Smith is survived by a daughter, Jeanne Smith Kelly and husband Phil of Madison, Mississippi; two sons, James Pat Smith and wife Jeannette of Gulfport, Mississippi, and Benjamin Philip Smith and wife Frances of Many, Louisiana; and one brother, Charles Pettis Patterson of Arlington, Virginia. Also surviving are six grandchildren - Andrew Kelly, Patrick Kelly, Jenny Smith, Amy Smith Bradley, Wendy Smith Edlund, and Stephen Smith, as well as three great- grandchildren. The family wishes to express its special thanks to the staffs at Lakeview Nursing Center, Seashore Personal Care, Cardiac Care at Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, Senior Harbor at Biloxi Regional and to Mrs. Twanna Turner for her help and friendship. Memorials may be made to the Mississippi College Scholarship Fund, 200 S. Capitol Street, Box 4001, Clinton, Mississippi 39058 or the building fund of Fernwood Baptist Church, 2307 E. Pass Road, Gulfport, Mississippi 39507-3806. Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home, O'Neal Road, Gulfport is in charge of arrangements. View and sign register book at www.bradfordokeefe.com