Helen May Smith

Helen Hickmott Smith, 99, of Denton, Texas died Saturday, November 7, 2020.

A family graveside service will at 2:00 p.m., Thursday, November 12, 2020 in Llano Cemetery, with Jack Kisby as officiant. Arrangements are by Schooler Funeral Home.

Helen was born in Amarillo on July 19, 1921. She attended public school there and went on to finish two years at Amarillo College. After joining the U.S. Navy, she was stationed in Washington, D.C. while she served as a WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during World War II.   After the war, Helen worked as a legal secretary in Amarillo when she met her future husband, Gene, who worked for an accounting firm in the same building. They married April 24, 1948 and were blessed with a 53-year union.

Helen served her family, church, and community in several capacities: loving wife and mother, Children’s Sunday School Director, Vacation Bible School Director, Cub Scout Leader, Girl Scout Leader, hostess for her sons’ Chess Club. Her interests were many and varied: Scrabble and Domino player, vegetable gardener and produce preserver, nature enthusiast, creative project crafter, trout fisherman, furniture refinisher and room remodeler.

Helen took immense pride in her family. She instilled in her children a strong moral compass, and a desire to strive to achieve a high mark in their pursuits. She taught them to be compassionate human beings and to be giving to those less fortunate. She loved her family, always putting their needs ahead of her own.  Helen loved the Lord and practiced her faith through Bible reading, church attendance and prayer her whole life.  We are comforted in her passing by the knowledge that she is now restored and whole in the presence of our Savior Jesus, and that we’ll see her again one day.

Preceded in death by her beloved husband, Eugene (Gene) Smith, and her parents, Edward E. Hickmott and Shirley Edwards Hickmott, four brothers and their spouses: Ed and Ruth Hickmott, Al and Juanita Hickmott, Frank and Shirley Hickmott, Pat and Wilma Hickmott; a sister and her husband: Thelma and Paul Hanson; her daughter-in-law Lynne Smith; and her grandson Bryan Smith. Helen’s loving family include her four children: Linda Dean and husband Robb of Denton, Texas; Mike Smith and wife Karen of Amarillo; Ken Smith and wife Chris of Franklin, Tennessee, Phil Smith of Larkspur, Colorado; as well as thirteen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to Salvation Army or Habitat for Humanity.