Delight "Dee" Courtwright-Smoot

Courtwright-Smoot, Delight "Dee"
of Phoenix, AZ passed away on July 5, 2016. Dee was raised and schooled in San Francisco, studying journalism & advertising at Polytechnic, SF City College, Golden Gate College, UC Extension and NBC School of Broadcasting. At 25, Dee married a career Air Force officer and for the next several years their assignments took them to Washington, Northern California, Wisconsin, Indiana, Morocco, Spain and Germany. During those years, Dee hosted a thrice-weekly radio show for the Armed Forces Network, edited cooking club news pages for the Overseas Weekly newspaper in Germany and had several articles published in Air Force publications including one about refueling President Eisenhower's plane, the Columbine. Dee moved to Phoenix in 1966 and joined Bozell & Jacobs Advertising as a copywriter and later, PR executive. She later joined Phoenix magazine as business writer and editor of the weekly business newsletter, "What's New in Arizona?" Dee returned to SF in 1984 and joined a chain of newspapers serving the Peninsula as assistant to the publisher and co-editor of Bay Nites, a weekly entertainment supplement. She later moved to Easter Seals and earned for them their first national award for the San Mateo chapter newsletter. In 1990, Dee returned to Phoenix and joined The Salvation Army as PR Director for the Southwest Division. Throughout her years in Phoenix, Dee was a member of the Advertsing Club where she served on the Man & Woman of the Year committee and edited its newsletter for a total of 10 years, for which she received a lifetime membership. In 1982, Dee co-founded Bosom Buddies-AZ, an all-volunteer support group for women with breast cancer and in 2002, was awarded the coveted statewide Hon Kachina for her 25 years of service to the community. Other awards include being named "Volunteer of the Year" 2003 by the Komen Breast Cancer group of Arizona and being named "Advertising Person of the Year 2003" by AD2 Phoenix. In 1998, Dee was among the first to win a "Heart & Soul" community service award from Macy's, was among the honorees in the 1994 Impact for Enterprising Women recognition program and, in 2002 was honored by Bosom Buddies-AZ with a perpetual award acknowleging their Volunteer of the Year. In 1997, Dee was chosen by The National Breast Cancer Coalition to attend the first World Conference on Breast Cancer in Belgium and for the subsequent five years, served as a Consumer Advocate on panels convened by the Dept. of Defense to award monetary grants to promising scientific researchers of breast cancer treatments and causes. Always striving to make a difference, Dee has willed her body to science and when her ashes are returned, she's asked to have them scattered to the winds. Surviving Dee are her daughter D. Elizabeth Cloud of Phoenix, son Dan (Marcia) Petz of Prescott, AZ; granddaughter Christie (Eph) Balow and great grandsons Josh, Sammy and Dale of Skull Valley, AZ; grandsons Eric (Lissa Walker) Metheny of Studio City, CA; D.J. Petz, Jr. of Colorado and Aaron (Naima) Petz and great granddaughters Amelie, Indi and Lucienne of Phoenix. Also Dee's extended family, her "chosen" son Kevin (Sue) O'Shaughnessy and his family of Phoenix. There will be a celebration of her life in a few weeks. In lieu of flowers, please send any contributions to Bosom Buddies-AZ, Inc. 11024 N. 28th Dr. Suite 200, Phoenix, AZ 85029. 602-265-2776 www.bosombuddies-az.org To share memories please visit the on-line Guest Book at www.obits.azcentral.com