Ellen Smith

Service for Ellen D’Voe Lee Smith, 99, of Cleburne, will be conducted at 10:00 A.M., Thursday, November 9, 2023, in the Crosier-Pearson Cleburne Chapel with Pastor John Glover officiating. Burial will follow in Cresson Cemetery. Visitation will be 5:00-7:00 P.M., Wednesday, November 8, 2023, at the funeral home. Serving as pallbearers are John Coke, Mack McKee, Andy Novak, Rod Wilson, Troy Lyon, and Scott Stewart.

Ellen passed away Thursday, November 2, 2023, in Cleburne. She was born October 15, 1924 in Godley to Farris Franklin and Grace Alice (Kirkendall) Lee. Ellen married Bill Clark Smith on November 27, 1956 in Godley. She lived in the Godley-Cresson area from the first grade through high school. Following graduation from Godley High School in 1942, she went to Baylor University and graduated with an A.B. degree in 1946. She worked in the communications industry, first at KRIG in Odessa and later at KCLE in Cleburne, throughout the 1950’s. After the birth of their first child, John, in 1959, she became a stay-at-home mom. A second son, Kirk, arrived in 1961. Ellen participated in children’s activities at Field St, Baptist Church, where she and Bill have been members since 1961. Her stay-at-home status ended in 1970, when she went back to college to acquire a teaching certificate, and subsequently began a teaching career in the Joshua I.S.D. Mrs. Smith, though having been a member at several service and social organizations, maintained membership in the Johnson County Retired Teachers’ Association, Cresson Cemetery Association, and the former Baylor Alumni Association.

Survivors include her husband of nearly 67 years, Bill Smith; sons, John Smith, and Kirk Smith and husband, Jerome Brillaud; a number of Lee and Kirkendall cousins. Throughout school days and until her death in 2017, Mary Doggett Coke and Ellen were best friends. Mary’s daughter, Lesa McRae and son, John Coke, are honored survivors.

She was preceded in death by her parents; and her brother, Norman, who died before her birth.