Beverly Anne Smith

Beverly Anne (White) Smith, a nurse for many years in Easton and neighboring communities, passed away June 10, one week before her 96th birthday.
Beverly was born in Middleboro on June 17, 1928, the daughter of Preston A. and Orianna Thomas White. She was educated in New Bedford, North Dartmouth and Brockton, and graduated from Brockton High School in 1946. In 1949, she received her registered nursing degree from St. Luke's Hospital in Middleboro.
Beverly met her husband, Melvin G. Smith, while a junior in high school and the two married in 1951 after he returned from serving in the Air Force. They bought a house in North Easton in 1956 and lived there for most of their marriage.
Beverly's first job was as a pediatric nurse at Brockton Hospital. She left for 14 years to raise her three children, then in 1967 began a career with the Easton Visiting Nurse Association and the Community Health Services of Attleboro that spanned 28 years.
In 1993, the Easton Lions Club honored her with an Outstanding Service Award. She continued to volunteer with the Community Health Services of Attleboro flu clinics until she was 80.
To stay active in their retirement years, she and Melvin traveled, went regularly to the gym, volunteered in the community, and took Spanish classes at Massasoit College. Because Melvin owned a small airplane, Beverly took a pilot Pinch Hitter course as a safety measure in the event she had to land the airplane in an emergency.
The Smiths were married for 64 years until Mel's death in 2015.
An only child, Beverly always wished for a brother or sister. Instead, she shared her love with generations of cousins, then with children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and always, friends.
She wrote frequently to out-of-town family and friends. When their grandchildren were teenagers in the 1990s, she and Melvin got a computer to write them emails in college and later bought a cell phone to text them and everyone else.
To stay connected with friends during Covid, she and her neighbors sat socially distanced in their own driveways from 3:30 to 5 p.m. every day to discuss what was happening around town and in the world.
For decades Beverly participated in the Nurses' Health Study, established in 1976 and among the largest investigations in the risk factors for major chronic diseases in women. She graduated into the Memory Study and was steadfast in her devotion to regular interviews and the importance of the research she was helping to advance.
Always busy and creative, Beverly loved to sew, knit, crochet and embroider. She did beading, tried basketry and, in her 90s, took lessons in Swedish weaving. She sewed and knit for four generations of family and friends.
She never stopped thinking about what she could do for others. Even in her final days she had sewing projects in the works for three of her great-grandchildren.
She drew, wrote poems and stories and published a memoir, "Collection of Life Stories." She wrote in her journal every day, right up until May 19.
In the memoir, Beverly's advice for her great-grandchildren emphasizes kindness, tolerance, hard work, travel, friendship and love. She sums it up "Life is good - make the very best of it."
She is survived by her children, Jennifer Wilhoit and her husband, Stephen, of Chapel Hill, NC., Jeffrey Smith and his wife, Jayne, of Walpole, and Melissa Smith of Easton. She doted on her five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren: Gregory Smith and his children, Siena and Reid; Tayla Ruggieri and her husband, Jared, and their children, Reese and Sonny; Kevin Smith and his wife, Anna, and their children, Jackson and Faelynn; Stephanie Wilhoit Reeves and her husband, Parker, and their children, Bradley and Beverly Jean Reeves; and Leslie Wilhoit.
Visiting hours will be 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 23, at Kane Funeral Home, 605 Washington St. (Route 138), Easton, followed by a memorial service at 11 a.m. Monday, June 24, at Easton Baptist Church, 197 Bay Road, and a reception at 1 p.m. at The Chateau, 48 Bay Road, Norton. The memorial service will be livestreamed on the church's Facebook or YouTube page.
A private burial is planned in July at Nemasket Hill Cemetery in Middleboro.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to MGH Memory Study through Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Hope Health Community VNA in Attleboro or the American Lung Association.