Louise Smith

Sometime during the overnight hours between December 5th and 6th, Louise Welch Smith "Mama Lou" went peacefully home to heaven. During her 93 years on this earth, she gave so much to so many, enriching lives with joy, laughter, and her abiding faith.\r\n \r\nLou was born Mary Louise Welch on October 19, 1924, at Seton Hospital in Austin. Her mother, Jimmie (Little) Welch was from a cotton farm in Milam County. Lou never knew her father. \r\n \r\nTimes were hard, so her mother took Lou to California and placed her in St. Joseph's Orphanage on a hilltop in San Francisco. Lou spent the first twelve years of her life with the nuns in that imposing edifice while her mother Jimmie studied nursing. \r\n \r\nBy the end of those twelve years, Jimmie had enough money to support herself and Lou at St. Agnes Hospital in Fresno. They lived in a succession of boarding houses and shared a series of craftsman bungalows with tenants whom Lou fondly remembered as eccentric. During the summers, they took the train to the home place in Texas where Lou had adventures with her cousins on the cotton farm. \r\n \r\nIn 1942, when she graduated from Roosevelt High School, Lou chose to go to work for the war effort at Hammer Field instead of taking the offer of a scholarship that would make good use of her prodigious mathematical and scientific skills. \r\n \r\nAt the same time, they moved into a bungalow with a couple whose son was a soldier away at war. During his leaves, he came home to Fresno. Over the years, their friendship blossomed. On January 19, 1946, Lou married the dashing soldier, Richard Calvin Smith. \r\n \r\nThus began her life of travel and adventure as the wife of a career Army officer. Lou took her first airplane flight when she and her newborn daughter, Kathleen, left Fresno to join Richard at Fort Lewis in Washington. Their son, Richard Barrett, was born during their time at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. Postings followed at Fort Knox, Fort Leavenworth, and Fort Meade, Maryland, where her husband worked at the National Security Agency. During the summers, they returned to Richard's roots with the Benson clan at the homestead on Parachute Creek, Colorado. \r\n \r\nWhen the Army sent Richard to Nuremberg, Germany, Lou made the journey alone, shepherding their two small children across the country by train, then to Europe by ship. She often said that those experiences gave her inner strength, a sense of humor, humility, and above all…patience. \r\n \r\nNext stop was Fort Wolters, Texas, where Richard trained helicopter pilots, and Lou enjoyed the life of an Army wife, honing her skills as an entertainment and culinary pro. This is where she perfected her signature dish: Garlic Fried Chicken. \r\n \r\nUnfortunately, those blissful days came to an end when Richard began his tour in South Korea. Lou and the children returned to that bungalow in Fresno to await his return. \r\n \r\nThe Hawaiian Islands were the family's reward after the hardship tour. Lou often said that those years at Schofield Barracks were some of her happiest. \r\n \r\nThe family returned to Texas, this time to Fort Hood, where Richard prepared soldiers for using helicopters in war. Fort Hood became home for her, a place to which she would return often. Fort Benning, Georgia, followed, where they played golf in the Georgia storms. \r\n \r\nWhen Richard went to Viet Nam as liaison officer for the first wave of troops First Cav Air Mobile, Lou returned to Fort Hood. She reveled in the company of other Army wives, working at the thrift shop, attending and hosting luncheons, always assisting the chaplains. Richard's return from Viet Nam brought him home a changed man. Lou struggled to be a part of the life of this person she had loved for decades.\r\n \r\nThey found solace in his retirement to the Texas Hill Country. They purchased a small ranch near the Kerrville airport on Johnson Drive, where both of them could enjoy their horses, the goats, and the series of dogs. All of them gave the extended family a place to go for fun, laughter, and the joys of country life. \r\n \r\nWhen Richard passed away in 1993, Lou chose to stay in Kerrville to be with her vast "family" of friends. During those sad days, Father (now Auxiliary Bishop) Mike Boulette at Notre Dame became her touchstone. Over the years, they've remained close. The church community became her solace and her joy. \r\n \r\nDuring that period, Lou moved in with her daughter to provide the emotional support so important during times of trial. \r\n \r\nLou made a decision to fill her life with activity as she struggled to emerge from her deep mourning. She took art lessons and tatting lessons. She continued to join her bowling buddies at tournaments, often taking the responsibility for doing the driving when they traveled. She volunteered at the Raphael Community Free Clinic from its genesis, making countless friends among the selfless individuals who honored the dream of Sister Marge and Sister Mary Ann. Even the day before she died, she visited the clinic to work as usual. \r\n \r\nEvery Monday, she met with another group of friends to play Mexican Train. When she came home, she usually told her daughter about those adventures (she came in last many times) but how much FUN they had. Every 6 months or so, she would join yet another group of revelers to try to beat the slots at the Coushatta Casino, spending her daughter's inheritance and loving every minute of it. She worked at the church office every Friday, then would usually go to see a movie with friends. She treasured visits from her son and the trips to visit him at Fort Hood.\r\n \r\nLou was a person filled with the joy of giving. Her laughter was loud and raucous, genuine and deep. She loved to tell stories and listen to the stories of others. As her vast group of friends began fading away, her faith always pulled her through. She spent her last day at the Raphael Clinic, at the dentist, and HEB, where she spent the usual time catching up with friends as the ice cream melted in the basket. That evening, she and her daughter laughed about the voicemail greeting she was going to put on her new phone, complained about the puny Social Security raise, and planned her 100th birthday party.\r\n \r\nSometime during that night, Lou left this world peacefully, to join her Savior in heaven. She leaves behind her daughter and best friend Kat Walker of Kerrville, her son Ric Smith of Fort Hood, her beloved grandsons Mark Walker (Elisabeth) of Kirkland, Washington, and Jason (Pamela) Smith of Cypress, and her great granddaughters Sabrina Lourdes Walker and Violet Sophia Walker, who called her "GiGi." Many, many cousins, friends, and acquaintances will miss Lou every day. All of them now can take solace that she is their guardian angel. \r\n \r\nThe funeral mass is scheduled at Notre Dame Catholic Church at the corner of Washington and Water St. in Kerrville Tuesday, December 12, 2017, at 10:30 a.m. Burial of her ashes will take place in San Antonio on January 19th at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery when she will join her beloved Richard on what would have been their 72nd anniversary. \r\n\r\nIn lieu of flowers, Lou would want donations to the Raphael Community Free Clinic, Notre Dame School, Our Lady of the Hills Catholic School, or Schreiner University. \r\n