Dorothy Smith
Dorothy Ann Cobb Smith, longtime Chattanooga resident, was born on November 6, 1930, and passed away peacefully on October 24, 2019, in Seattle, Washington, just two weeks short of her 89th birthday.
Known to her many friends as Dot, she was a devoted wife and mother who loved opera, travel, and good books.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Walter and Maurice Cobb, sister, Jettie Ruth Holland, and beloved husband of 62 years, Leonard Ray Smith (d. 2015).
She is survived by a sister, Nancy Turner (Sunny) of Tutwiler, Mississippi; three children, Stephen Smith (Janice) of Chattanooga, Andrea Sanders (Tom) of Sewanee, Tennessee, and Walter Smith (Mary-Alice Pomputius) of Seattle, Washington; six grandchildren, Stephanie Smith of Chattanooga, Jessica Efta (John) of Seattle, Rhianna Shabsin (Chris Grant) of Williamsburg, Virginia, Ian Sanders (Bethany Stackhouse) of Seattle, Dorothy Sanders of Nashville, Marianne Sanders of Nashville; and a great-grandson, Benjamin Efta of Seattle.
Dot grew up in Russellville, Alabama, where she was a graduate of Russellville High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Montevallo State College for Women in Alabaster, Alabama, graduating in 1952, and on the same day married Leonard Ray Smith. The couple moved to Columbia, Tennessee, in 1953 and then to Chattanooga in 1957, where Ray was an electrical engineer with the substation design branch of the Tennessee Valley Authority. They attended the Red Bank Baptist Church. Dot taught kindergarten at Red Bank United Methodist Church and was a Head Start teacher in the Hamilton County Schools at Cedar Hill and Joseph E. Smith Schools. After earning a Master of Education degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, she became an itinerant teacher of the gifted for Hamilton County, remembered fondly by many students whom she coaxed and challenged. In 1986 the couple moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where Ray worked on rural electrification. Dot delighted in the Thai culture and people, traveling with friends extensively throughout Asia and around the globe. They returned to the U.S. in 1990 and relocated to Brandon, Florida, where the couple spent many happy years, still traveling, enjoying intellectual pursuits (Dot particularly loved the Sarasota Opera), and entertaining friends and family. They moved to Seattle in 2015 to be near their son Walter.
Dot will be greatly missed by family, friends, and those who knew and cared for her.
Interment will be private in the Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, Washington.