Suzanne Smith Henley

1943 - 2023

Suzanne Smith Henley, who lived a life of adventures, challenges, and accomplishments as an artist, teacher, administrator, and home renovator, died June 6 at Methodist Residential Hospice after a long illness. She was 80. Suzanne was born in Memphis to Mary Elizabeth Hollan Smith and Charles Allen Smith on January 3, 1943.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Jeffrey Wellington Smith. She is survived by her husband, James P. Cole; her children, Blair Henley Wardwell (Noel) of Portland, OR, Sarah Valentine Henley (Bradley Swihart) of Chattanooga, and Walker Yates Henley (Bailey) of South Pittsburg, TN; Jim's children, Elizabeth Cole Goodrich (Michael) of Birmingham, AL, Andy Cole (Benson Wright) of Chicago, IL, and Molly Cole of Birmingham; her grandchildren, Kate and Otto Wardwell, Charles and Hollan Henley; Catherine, Gibson, and Andrew Goodrich; her sister-in-law, Margaret Ivy Smith, her nephew, Jeff Smith, and the father of her three children, Russell G. Henley, M.D.

Suzanne was a graduate of Southwestern at Memphis (Rhodes College), spending her junior year studying in Florence, Italy. After graduating with a B.A. degree, she returned to Europe for a year working in a factory food hall in Stuttgart, Germany, helping feed 3,000 immigrant workers twice a day, saving her earnings to travel 6,800 miles from Sicily to Wales. On returning stateside she received an M.A. in English literature from the University of Virginia, then taught high school in Charlottesville while involving herself in civil rights work.

As a single working mother of three children, Suzanne served as chair of the English department at Lausanne School and later taught English at what is now Southwest Tennessee Community College. She was on the staff of WKNO before becoming coordinator of public relations, marketing, and special events for the founding of The Children's Museum. Moving on to the Memphis Interfaith Association (MIFA), she was the project manager in charge of design, fabrication, and installation of the original MIFA Starry Nights with a workforce of 35 Shelby County inmates. She later became director of development at Memphis College of Art before deciding to become a building contractor, designer, and renovator of early 20th-century Midtown Memphis houses. Resuming non-profit work alongside home renovation, she was a hospice agency director, working closely with more than 100 volunteers and hospice patients. Given her knowledge of end-of-life issues, she became a lecturer on the subject at the Rhodes College Meeman Center.

As an artist working primarily in fused glass, copper, and ancient beads, she created more than 800 sets of ecumenical-interfaith prayer beads. She also crafted mosaics, paintings, and other artwork for corporate and non-profit institutions. Among them are the Baptist Hospital Reynolds Hospice House, the Kemmons Wilson Family Center for Good Grief, the Memphis Child Advocacy Center, the Ave Maria Home, Baptist Pediatric Hospital, and the Church Health Center.

As a writer, Suzanne was a columnist for Memphis Parent and Southern Women magazines. She was co-author and illustrator for the cookbook, Sauce for the Goose. Later her essay "Beyond This Point There Be Dragons" was a selection for Second Blooming, an anthology of women writers. Her book Bead by Bead, a history and far-ranging commentary about prayer beads covering many faith traditions, was published in 2018. A stickler for grammar and accuracy, she had a hard time forgiving the copy editor who incorrectly changed the first name of Willie Mays to "Willy." Another of her essays, "Road Trip," is being released in the anthology All Night, All Day: Life, Death & Angels.

Her community work included serving as board president of the former Memphis and Shelby County Mental Health Association and as a member of the founding committee of Works of Heart, a fund-raiser benefitting the Memphis Child Advocacy Center. At Calvary Episcopal Church she served as a Vestry member, Journey leader, lay eucharistic minister, lector, teacher, and organizer of the Emmaus Ministry for the Dying. Over the years she prepared roughly 90,000 eggs for the Downtown Homeless Breakfast. For the past 15 years, she created gifts for Calvary's Lenten Preaching Series speakers. She also served on the Memphis City Beautiful Commission, the Foster Care Review Board, and the board of Memphis Heritage.

Suzanne pursued her passion for fly fishing for more than 25 years, wading and fishing, by her count, 26 rivers from North Carolina to Oregon.

Known for her wit, intelligence, generosity, creativity, and often too-sharp tongue, Suzanne frequently expressed a deep and giddy sense of gratitude for the amazements of an ordinary day.

She is now a donor to the Genesis Legacy Foundation for the advancement of scientific research.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, June 23, at Calvary Episcopal Church, 102 N. 2nd Street, Memphis, TN, 38103.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any memorials be sent to The Center for Action and Contemplation, 1705 Five Points Road SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105, Calvary Church, or the non-profit of the donor's choice.