Barbara Blair Smith

Barbara Joy Blair Smith September 30, 1933 - January 14, 2010 Barbara was born on the Blair Farm near Sweetwater Creek in Lithia Springs, Georgia. In later years, she often reminisced about her childhood during the Depression–the fetching of water from the spring, reading her lessons by the light of a kerosene lantern, picking a row of cotton after school. Her parents worked the land in primitive conditions, sacrificing much so that their five children couldget a good education; and Barbara was considered a wiz at school, graduating as salutatorian from Douglas County High School at the age of 15.That same year, she was recruited to work for the Commercial Bank in nearby Douglasville.By 16 she was a secretary at the Sears and Roebuck Company on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta, working the day shift and attending night classes at Georgia State University. Thus began a lifetime of work, culminating with her retirement from the Clerk’s Office of the Georgia House of Representatives at age 71. During her eight decades Barbara would live in several interesting places besides Douglas County, including midtown Atlanta, the San Francisco Bay area during the early 1950s, and soon thereafter a stone’s throw away from the Holland Tunnel on the Jersey side of the Hudson River near Manhattan. She also lived in London, Ontario, Canada, with her husband and two children during the late 1970s and early 1980s. But Lithia Springs beckoned her to return, and in doing so, she would live the rest of her life not far from the farmhouse where she was born and the land where her ancestors had lived since the early 19th century. Barbara was a woman of superlatives. She was one of only five Georgians in her day to receive the coveted title of Certified Professional Secretary and was once judged the fastest typist in the state at 120 words a minute (long before the advent of the personal computer). One of her most astounding accomplishments is a perfect attendance record–48 years without missing a single Sunday School lesson, a feat she would maintain as she visited churches of all stripes during her voyages around the world. (Her first absence since 1961 was the Sunday following her death.) She volunteered her time and financial resources for scores of causes close to her heart, particularly the Lithia Springs United Methodist Church, the Christian Aid Center, the Diabetes Foundation, Environmental Community Action, Douglas County Historic Commission, and other groups working for equal rights and international development.She could always be counted on to assist with activities at the various schools of her children and much-adored grandchildren. During the last 12 years of her life, Barbara became interested in projects taking place in the Republic of Benin in western Africa.She visited the country twice, where she was renamed Yayi Bidgé by the orphaned children of the family she adopted as her own.Those kids benefitted over the years from her quiet but very substantial (and habitual) aid in the form of school fees, clothing, medical supplies, farm equipment, foodstuffs, and even cash during the lean times.She also helped finance repairs to a village church, as well as the initial investment for the Antisua Community Forest environmental education initiative. Though Barbara usually preferred to volunteer behind the scenes, she was nonetheless a community activist, particularly in the 1990s.She was a founding member of the Lithia Springs Support Group, and she served two terms on the Lithia Springs City Council, each time as mayor pro-tem.The last year of her political career was as mayor of the city, continuing the legacy of her great-grandfather, John James, first mayor of Salt (Lithia) Springs, and his brother, Joseph James, first mayor of the city of Douglasville. Barbara Joy Blair Smith was preceded in death by her parents, Eugene Black Blair of Lithia Springs and Helen Deborah Wolff Blair of Jacksonville, Florida; infant sisters Betty Jean Blair and a second un-named child; her husband Tracy Walton Smith of Lithia Springs; her infant granddaughter Katie Leigh Livingston;and her niece Cindy Blair of Cleveland, Georgia. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Debra and Kevin Livingston of Lithia Springs; her son Christopher Ryan Smith of Lithia Springs and Pèrèrè-Gourou (Benin); four grandchildren–Blake, Hope, Rose, and Claire Livingston; one great-grandson Julien Livingston and his mother Samantha Manzo; four siblings–Thomas Eugene Blair, Mary Helen Blair, and Judy Blair McDonald, all of Lithia Springs, and James Donald Blair and his wife Sandra of Douglasville; brother-in-law Gary E. Smith of Lithia Springs; a host of cousins including Dr. Darrell Murray and his wife Hannah of Austell; one niece and six nephews; and quite a few adopted grandchildren in Benin. On this day, in diverse cultures, warm memories of Barbara comfort friends and family members, both biological and adoptive, on three continents. The family will receive friends at the Roy Davis Funeral Home in Austell on Wednesday, January 20, 2010, from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.The funeral service will be conducted on Thursday, January 21, 2010, at 3 p.m. at the Lithia Springs United Methodist Church, with the Reverend Dr. Larry Wilson officiating.She will lie in state from 2 p.m. until time of service. Interment will follow at Mozley Memorial Gardens in Lithia Springs.