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Chesley Thorne Smith, 101, died April 24, 2012 at her home in Holly Springs. She was born the first day of June, 1910, in Holly Springs, the daughter of Buxton Thorne, a native of Airlie, NC, and Voorhies Daniel Thorne. Her education was first in the grammar school, high school, and collegiate departments of Mississippi Synodical College, a Presbyterian institution in Holly Springs, and at Randolph Macon College in Lynchburg, Va, which she attended in 1929 1930. On December 2, 1931, she married a young lawyer, Lemuel Augustus Smith Jr. Later a judge, he served on the Mississippi Supreme Court for 17 years, from 1965 until 1982, when he retired as Presiding Justice. Mrs. Smith graduated from the University of Mississippi with a B.A.E. in mathematics in 1961, and taught mathematics in schools in Holly Springs and in Jackson, while her husband was a Supreme Court judge. Judge Smith died in 2001. They had two children, L. A. Smith III, of Jackson, and Caffey S. Litkenhous of Huntsville, Ala.; two grandchildren, Edward Litkenhous III, of Huntsville, and Anna L. Merritt of Birmingham, Ala.; and three great-grandchildren, James Augustus Merritt, Alston Merritt and Margaret (Meg) Merritt of Birmingham. Mrs. Smith was predeceased by her brother, Dr. Edward Alston Thorne, M.D., of Holly Springs.
She was noted as a photographer and collector of antique photographs, documents, letters and diaries related to the history of Holly Springs and Marshall County. She began taking pictures as a child in 1918. She was generous in allowing use of material from her collection, which was professionally arranged and preserved. Material from the collection has appeared in a number of historical works. A turn-of-the-century photograph from her collection was used on the jacket of A Vanishing America published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, in 1964. Mrs. Smiths father is in the center of the picture, which depicts two couples in a lakeside serenade. The section of this book pertaining to Holly Springs was written by Hodding Carter.
Nine photographs as well as historical information were used by Mary Carol Miller in Lost Mansions of Mississippi, published in 1996. Dr. Robert Milton Winter made extensive use of Mrs. Smiths collection in his massive history, Shadow Of A Mighty Rock, published in 1997. In 1999 Thomas Berryhill Press published Our Pen Is Time, The Diary Of Emma Finley with commentary by Dr. Robert Milton Winter, including photographs from the Chesley Smith collection, and in 2001, Civil War Women, The Diaries Of Belle Strickland and Cora Harris Watson, with commentary by Dr. Winter, using Mrs. Smiths copy of the Strickland diary and photographs from her collection.
Hubert H. McAlexander, Ph.D., acknowledged use of Mrs. Smiths resources in The Prodigal Daughter, his biography of the writer and Longfellow protégée Sherwood Bonner, published in 1981, and in A Southern Tapestry, his history of Marshall County published in 2000. In 1996, Mrs. Smith published her memoir, Childhood In Holly Springs. The success of this memoir, as well as widespread used of her collection, in part led to her receiving the Ageless Heroes award in 2000, the annual award sponsored by Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Mrs. Smith was a member and officer in a number of historical and genealogical organizations including the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames of Seventeenth Century, and Magna Carta Dames. She was a charter member of the Mississippi Company, Jamestowne Society. She was a member of Christ Church (Episcopal) Holly Springs, and while living in Jackson, a member of Saint Stephens Episcopal Church.
Services were at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 28, at Christ Episcopal Church with The Rev. Bruce McMillan officiating. Burial was in Hill Crest Cemetery in Holly Springs. Holly Springs Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.
Memorials may be made to Christ Episcopal Church, P.O Box 596, Holly Springs, MS 38635.
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