Drue Smith, the pioneering newswoman who lived life large, was laid to rest with simple ceremonies on Sunday afternoon.
Rep. Brenda Turner called Ms. Smith a trailblazer for women and praised her for pushing for an "open media" in a eulogy at Chattanooga Memorial Park at White Oak.
Ms. Smith died Thursday night at Baptist Hospital in Nashville.
Known for her gaudy outfits and effervescent personality, she had covered the last seven Tennessee governors as well as hundreds of state and national lawmakers over a career spanning half a century.
Gary Cunningham, who published her weekly political column in his Green Hills News, is heading up a memorial service in Nashville. It will be held at 10 a.m. Jan. 5 in Woodlawn Funeral Home, 660 Thompson Lane in Nashville.
Ms. Smith got her start in newspaper, radio and TV in Chattanooga, then moved on to Nashville.
Rep. Turner said, "There are not many words to describe Drue in the dictionary that you would leave out.
"Everyone who's life she touched had a story about her - or three or four."
Noting that her flashy red Mustang was covered with bumper stickers from politicians from all affiliations, she would say she drove slowly "so everybody can read them all."
Rep. Turner said the attitude of Drue Smith was "not to take yourself too seriously. Take your job seriously, but not yourself."
She said when she spoke a name "she really said it. She sang your name. It would remind you that she had a smile - and sometimes a laught - inside."
She said Ms. Smith "lived by the code of kindness. Even when she asked you a tough question, she was kind."
Rep. Turner said she admired Ms. Smith so much that when it came time for her to get glasses she wanted ones with rindstones on them like Drue had.
She said, "She set her own style always."
Former State Rep. Bill McAfee said Drue Smith "was a professional and she was fair-minded."
He said she "celebrated every day of life."
Others attending included Ms. Smith's daughter, Drucilla Fuller, and her husband, John Fuller, along with a cousin Mary Elizabeth Smith, former head of Girls Preparatory School. Several friends and former neighbors also attended.
Drucilla Smith Fuller said her mother "showed only love - there was no hate. She was never unkind, and I'm proud of her."
Ms. Smith was the widow of Roy Blaney Smith, a Chattanooga insurance executive and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve who served as inspector general in the Philippines during World War II.
She died after collapsing at her home at Belle Meade.
Drue Smith began her journalism career while a student at GPS. She was with the Chattanooga News-Free Press, then was woman's editor at the Chattanooga Times where he had a column "Drue's Party Line." She was in raido, then joined WDEF-TV in the 1950s when she hosted the show "Drue At Two."
She also ran a cooking school in Chattanooga at one time.
She was the first full-time female broadcast reporter to cover Tennessee's Capitol Hill, working for United Press International, radio station WLAC-AM, the Tennessee Radio Network and other broadcasters across the state.
She was the first honorary member of the Tennessee General Assembly and was named National Broadcaster of the Year by American Women in Radio and TV. She also was named Woman of the Year by the Business and Professional Women's Club, the Tennessee Press Women, the Pilot Club and the Altrusa Club.
Memorials should be sent to the scholarship fund of the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The address is P.O. Box 22248, Nashville, Tenn. 37202.