Ruth Williams Smith

Ruth Williams SMITH Ruth Laolon Williams Smith, the fourth and last surviving child of the late Ruth Jamison Williams and Oscar Williams, departed this life on October 1, 2002 at 1:50 a.m. She died from complications related to a cerebral hemorrhage, in Durham, North Carolina, where she had resided for the past two and a half years with her daughter and son-in-law. She was the only girl among five brothers - Oscar (better known as Brother), Armand, Jack, Michael and Lawrence. She was born on August 11, 1924, in Los Angeles, California, as were her mother and father, aunts and uncles, in-laws, siblings and cousins. Her father died while she was quite young, leaving her mother to capably shepherd the children, and over 172 foster children, into adulthood. Ruth attended Fairfax High School and the University of Southern California, where she developed her avocation, and her subsequent career, as a social worker. her work was focused primarily on children, first as an adoption counselor with Catholic Charities in Washington, D.C., then as the developer of Head Start programs across the United States. In her last formal position, she served as Director of the Paseo Beach of the YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri. She married Lewis Curtis Smith in 1943 in Yuma, Arizona, following his commission as a Second Lieutenant into active duty with the Army Air Corps in Tuskegee, Alabama. They traveled and lived all over the United States, as well as in Europe, Africa, and Asia during Curtis's second career as a U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Officer. Through the legacies of their families' contribution in the establishment of the Los Angeles metropolis, and their involvement with the Tuskegee Airmen, Ruth and Curtis developed life-long friendships with other Los Angelinos natives, and with other pilots and their families. She and Curtis particularly enjoyed the time spent and friendships established in Italy while her husband was assigned to NATO. Lewis Curtis Smith died in Seattle, Washington in June of 1997. She leaves to mourn her death her only child, her daughter, Victoria Lynne Smith Thornton, her granddaughter, Mekela Ivoire Jamison Countee, and her precious great granddaughter. She has touched many more lives with her wit, class, and humor, and will also be missed by her son-in-law, William M. Thornton, his family, her cousins Ethel, Janice & Bruce, Raoul, Stephanie & Gregory, and many lifelong, worldwide, friends and acquaintances. Her life-long motto, "Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You", was truly her Golden Rule, and was the basic principle that guided her words and her actions. It was a good fit with the Roman Catholic faith that sustained her throughout her living and her dying. Most of all, Ruth was known for her graciousness, style, sincerity, and common sense approaches to world and mundane problems alike; she could talk with the statesman and the trash man, entertain and cook for American, Asian, African and European tastes, and use her singular charm to teach and tame the many guests to her homes. Scarborough & Hargett Funeral Home, Inc. in Durham, North Carolina, and McGuire Funeral Services in Washington, D.C. will handle funeral arrangements. Interment will be at the Arlington National Cemetery.