Sunrise: Jun. 10, 1942
Sunset: Nov. 2, 2023
Memorial Service
Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023
12:00 p.m.
Mt. Pleasant Bapt. Church
LR 70
Ogden, AR 71853
Ms. Virginia Louise Smith was born in Ogden, Arkansas, on June 10th, 1942. She
graduated from the Little River County Training School at Ashdown, Arkansas, in 1959. In
the same year, she entered Arkansas Agricultural Mechanical, and Normal College (later
the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) and graduated with a major in Physical Education
in 1963. There, she pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Louise taught P.E.
one year at Lilbourn, Missouri. She became an instructor at AM&N and later obtained a
Master of Arts in Physical Education from the University of Iowa (Iowa City) in 1968. She
returned to AM&N as a P.E. Instructor in 1968 and remained through 1969, then went to
California, where she taught for many years in Bay Area high schools.
After retiring from a career in education, Louise became a Financial Advisor at Waddell &
Reed in San Mateo, California, for many years. Her tenacious work effort was recognized
for $10 million in sales, and she was rewarded with trips to Portugal, Hawaii, and Hong
Kong. She enjoyed traveling with her sister, Vivian, and her niece, Aetna Ruth, respectively,
on these travels. She retired to Little Rock in 2018 to care for her mother.
Louise loved all sports, college, professional and international. She enjoyed cooking,
shopping, sightseeing, politics, and meeting people from the South, whom she had the
pleasure of teaching about financial planning. She took especially great pleasure in driving
people up the “Crookedest Street in the World” in San Francisco (in her stick shift car),
debating hot topics, and spoiling her younger brothers and sisters and all her nieces and
nephews rotten.
Louise was preceded in death by her parents, P. Lawrence Smith, Sr., and Clydia Smith
Monroe; sister, Edna Ruth Smith, and brother, Gregory Smith; grandparents, William and
Lena Smith, and Pete and Hattie Wilbourn. She was also preceded in death by her aunt,
Doris Osborne, and cousin, Arnaye Osborne. She is survived by her brothers, Dr. Paul L.
Smith, Jr. (Hazel) of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and Darrell K. Monroe (Nicole) of Inglewood,
California, and sisters, Maxine Smith of Elk Grove, California, Vivian Smith of Pine Bluff,
Arkansas, and Sonja Smith of Little Rock, Arkansas. She is also survived by her uncle,
W.G. Osborne (Doris) of California. She will be fondly missed by her friends, including
San Mateo neighbor, Jackie Mack. She is survived by a host of cousins across the country
as well as nieces and nephews who will dearly miss their “Aunt Wheezy.”
Sunset: Nov. 2, 2023
Memorial Service
Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023
12:00 p.m.
Mt. Pleasant Bapt. Church
LR 70
Ogden, AR 71853
Ms. Virginia Louise Smith was born in Ogden, Arkansas, on June 10th, 1942. She
graduated from the Little River County Training School at Ashdown, Arkansas, in 1959. In
the same year, she entered Arkansas Agricultural Mechanical, and Normal College (later
the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) and graduated with a major in Physical Education
in 1963. There, she pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Louise taught P.E.
one year at Lilbourn, Missouri. She became an instructor at AM&N and later obtained a
Master of Arts in Physical Education from the University of Iowa (Iowa City) in 1968. She
returned to AM&N as a P.E. Instructor in 1968 and remained through 1969, then went to
California, where she taught for many years in Bay Area high schools.
After retiring from a career in education, Louise became a Financial Advisor at Waddell &
Reed in San Mateo, California, for many years. Her tenacious work effort was recognized
for $10 million in sales, and she was rewarded with trips to Portugal, Hawaii, and Hong
Kong. She enjoyed traveling with her sister, Vivian, and her niece, Aetna Ruth, respectively,
on these travels. She retired to Little Rock in 2018 to care for her mother.
Louise loved all sports, college, professional and international. She enjoyed cooking,
shopping, sightseeing, politics, and meeting people from the South, whom she had the
pleasure of teaching about financial planning. She took especially great pleasure in driving
people up the “Crookedest Street in the World” in San Francisco (in her stick shift car),
debating hot topics, and spoiling her younger brothers and sisters and all her nieces and
nephews rotten.
Louise was preceded in death by her parents, P. Lawrence Smith, Sr., and Clydia Smith
Monroe; sister, Edna Ruth Smith, and brother, Gregory Smith; grandparents, William and
Lena Smith, and Pete and Hattie Wilbourn. She was also preceded in death by her aunt,
Doris Osborne, and cousin, Arnaye Osborne. She is survived by her brothers, Dr. Paul L.
Smith, Jr. (Hazel) of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and Darrell K. Monroe (Nicole) of Inglewood,
California, and sisters, Maxine Smith of Elk Grove, California, Vivian Smith of Pine Bluff,
Arkansas, and Sonja Smith of Little Rock, Arkansas. She is also survived by her uncle,
W.G. Osborne (Doris) of California. She will be fondly missed by her friends, including
San Mateo neighbor, Jackie Mack. She is survived by a host of cousins across the country
as well as nieces and nephews who will dearly miss their “Aunt Wheezy.”
