July 23, 1940 ~ September 16, 2026 (age 86)
Mary Ruth (MR) Boggs Smith of Auburn, Alabama and Saint George Island, Florida died September 16, 2026. MR was the oldest daughter of Dr. James Glenn and Nancy Reed Boggs of Russell, Kentucky. She is preceded in death by her parents and sister, Judith Ann Pratt. She is survived by her husband, Leo Anthony (Tony) Smith; sister, Nancy Ellen MacBride (William) of Bozeman, Montana; three sons; three daughters-in-law; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
MR was born in Hazard, Kentucky on July 23, 1940. After her father completed medical school in Boston, the family moved to Majestic, Kentucky, a coal mining location so remote it offered no public education. MR’s elementary education was accomplished by her riding a commercial bus to Matewan, West Virginia each day to attend a West Virginia school. She said the bus ride often included colorful characters. In 1952, the family moved to Russell, Kentucky where she participated in the school marching band (clarinet), played piano for the church, and dated a football player named Hatfield whom she described as quite a nice young man.
In September 1958, MR enrolled in Emory University’s five-year nursing degree program. On October 19th she was invited to attend a college Sunday School class offered by St. Mark’s Methodist Church to Emory, Agnes Scott, and Georgia Tech students taught by Dr. Bill Mallard, a Candler School of Theology professor. At the class, she was introduced to Georgia Tech freshman Tony Smith and within five seconds they were in love (don’t smile, dear reader, such events happen in other than fairy tales). MR and Tony married September 9, 1962, after his BIE degree was completed, and she had one year remaining in her nursing program. During the following year, MR graduated from Emory, became a registered nurse in Georgia, and worked in Emory Hospital. She experienced a two-year career hiatus while Tony was on military active duty but became a RN in Indiana and again worked while he completed his PhD at Purdue. The family moved to Auburn in January 1969.
In addition to working to support her family, MR became a mother. Glenn Anthony was born December 1963; Allen Joseph was born April 1967, and Christopher David was born August 1968. MR enjoyed and excelled in the role of full-time motherhood; however, she became a RN in Alabama and returned to work at what is now East Alabama Medical Center in the mid-1970s. At EAMC she served various times as nursing supervisor of the evening shift, emergency room, intensive care and along with one physician, a secretary, and two beds in a hall, initiated what has become the hospital’s outpatient surgery program. She left EAMC in the 1980s to work in Auburn University’s Student Health Center’s Women’s Health program until she retired in 1995.
MR’s Appalachian roots nurtured her interest in hand crafts. She designed and constructed pine straw baskets, hand stitched several full-sized quilts along with a few small ones, excelled in producing needlework samplers, knitted sweaters and Christmas stockings into one of which she inserted her December child and hung from the mantle as a gift to Tony, refinished antique furniture, wove cloth tape and hickory bark chair seats, and finished all of the furniture Tony constructed for their St. George Island home. Additionally, MR became an accomplished cook and baker of bread.
MR greatly admired and loved her daughters-in-law and their children: Laura LaHatte (Glenn), Penny Hemphill (Allen), and Lilla Hood (Chris). Laura’s children are: Jessica Smith Cooper (Griffin Dean Cooper) and James Andrew Smith; Penny’s children are: Anna Janine Smith (fiancé Bowen Shaner) and Elizabeth Quillian Smith (Ashish Katuri); Lilla’s children are: Reed Quillian Smith and Duncan Walsh Smith.
MR was delighted to be a namesake of and love a great-granddaughter: Mary Andrews (Andie) Cooper (Jessica and Griff Cooper), who was born in 2025.
A graveside service will be at 10 a.m., October 17, 2026, at Memorial Park Cemetery, section “E,” in Auburn. Any memorials should be directed to The Food Bank of East Alabama, 355 Industry Drive, Auburn, Alabama 36832.
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