Elizabeth Hope Feezell Smith

Elizabeth Hope Feezell Smith, age 85, passed away Sunday, July 17, 2016. She is survived by William Aldon Smith, her devoted husband of fifty-one years. She was born to the Reverend Lee Asbury and Nettie Hope Feezell on October 23, 1930, in Meigs County, Tennessee, and has lived in the beautiful city of Lexington, Kentucky, since 1953.

She graduated with high honors from Meigs County High School, Tennessee Wesleyan College, Tennessee Technological University (where she was elected to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities), and the University of Kentucky (with a M.A. Degree and additional hours of graduate work). She was an acclaimed educator in the Fayette County School System for 42.6 years beginning as an English teacher at Bryan Station Junior High. Elizabeth was a guidance counselor at Jessie M. Clark Junior High for decades (While she was leading the school's guidance program, Jessie M. Clark became the first junior high to be awarded a Guidance and Counseling Merit Rating in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.).

She was a member of the Pisgah Baptist Church and Broadway Baptist Church: there the great hymns spoke to her spirit; the messages from the Bible touched her soul. Her faith was absolutely an integral part of her being. Her life demonstrated the importance of love, kindness, thoughtfulness, sincerity, honesty, generosity, self-discipline, self-reliance, thankfulness, respect, and reverence.

She found peace and joy in God's magnificent creation: in a single season she grew, arranged, and sent Bill to deliver one hundred dozen tea roses to those known and unknown to her. On one day and one night she made from scratch, baked, and packaged twenty dozen cookies for the children visiting her church to take on the return bus trip to their orphanage.

Words and ideas were important tools for her use. Strong feelings and expressions from her heart were carefully and eloquently written for and treasured by the multitudes who received her crafted communications sent to recognize a day of celebration and happiness, a time of grief, or a moment of reflection on a myriad of life experiences.

Elizabeth is survived by Mary Grace Feezell Starnes, her only sister who adored her beyond words; she was predeceased by her delightful brother Sam L. and wife Nancy Feezell, her brother-in-law Paul M. Starnes, and her husband Bill's parents Mr. and Mrs. Aldon Allison (Georgia Marion) Smith and his sister Frances and brother Jim.

Family, teachers, students, friends, and neighbors appreciated her inward and outward beauty and observed the depth and breadth of her caring and giving nature. Elizabeth was truly a goal-oriented doer.

The family will receive friends at Milward Funeral Directors, 391 Southland Drive, Lexington, Kentucky 40503, on Thursday, July 21, 2016, from 10 A.M. to 11 A.M.; funeral services will follow in the chapel at 11 A.M.

A Graveside service will be held on Saturday, July 23, 2016 at 11 a.m. in the Pisgah Cemetery, Decatur, Tennessee.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to your favorite charity. www.milwardfuneral.com

Bowers Funeral Home, Inc., of Decatur will be in charge of the services in Decatur,TN.

Go to www.bowersfh.com and sign the guest book and offer your condolences. 423-334-3661