OBITUARY - EVELYN VIRGINIA RICKMAN SMITH
August 9, 1931 – June 16, 2021

On June 16, 2021, Evelyn Virginia Rickman Smith died peacefully in her sleep) at her home in New Braunfels, at the age of 89. She was born in Helmic, Trinity County, Texas, the second child of Ethel Williams Rickman and Monroe Esker Rickman and grew up in Houston. She graduated from the former Jefferson Davis High School. In 1951, she married her childhood sweetheart, Maurice Smith. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business from Howard Payne College (now University) in Brownwood and took Master's degree courses from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) and from Texas Christian University in Ft, Worth. During most of the years from 1960 through 1972, she and Maurice were Southern Baptist missionaries to Ghana.

Evelyn was preceded in death by her parents, by her brother, Douglas L. Rickman (and wife, Aileen), by her sister, Annette Rickman Sanders, and by her son, Kenneth Ray Smith. She is survived by her husband (of New Braunfels), her son Richard Reed Smith (and wife, Patricia), two granddaughters, DeAnna Crites (and husband, Ben) and Jordan Greer, and three great-grandsons, all of Corpus Christi; by her brother-in-law, Edward Wayne Sanders of Mathis, her sister-in-law, Maurine Smith McBride (and husband, Harold) of Marietta, Georgia, by her brother-in-law, Raiford Reed Smith (and wife Mary Ann) of Canyon Lake, and by several cousins, nieces and nephews.

In addition to Evelyn's beautiful life as a minister's wife for nearly 70 years and her wonderful work as a missionary, a teacher, and a church pianist and organist, she had a remarkable career as a secretary and administrative assistant, with both businesses and Baptist institutions. She worked her way through college as the secretary to the academic dean. She helped put her husband through six years of graduate school by working as the secretary to the president of the Texas Steel Company and as the secretary to the officers of the Amon G. Carter Foundation in Ft. Worth. The Provost and Academic Vice-president of SWBTS recruited her to be his administrative associate, and when her husband's work took the Smiths to Atlanta, Georgia, she was asked to fill the same position at Mercer (Baptist) University. She worked one year as the personnel coordinator and secretary to the administrator of Decatur Hospital, and she worked five years as a secretary in the Chaplaincy Division and in the Communications Division of the former Home Mission Board of the SBC, and in 1991 the newly-formed Cooperative Baptist Fellowship recruited her to serve as the secretary to the Executive Coordinator–the position from which she took early retirement in June 1994 and returned to Texas. In retirement, she worked every year as a clerk in Guadalupe County elections for fifteen years.

A memorial service will be held at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, July 13, 2021 in Wilson Chapel at the First Baptist Church of San Antonio (515 McCullough Ave.), preceded by a visitation at ll:00 in Unity Hall. Evelyn has been a member of FBC for over 21 years. The family will bury her
ashes at the Brookside Memorial Park in Houston at a later date. The family expresses deep appreciation to Evelyn's long-time primary care physician, Dr. Lori Hickson, to her cardiologist, Dr. Stephen Carey, and to the wonderful staff members of Hope Hospice in New Braunfels.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to the New Braunfels Food Bank, 1620 South Seguin Avenue, New Braunfels, TX, 78130. You will be able to view the memorial service live (or later) on the internet by going to www.fbcsa.org/smithmemorial. The family
invites you to sign the guest book at www.doeppenschmidtfuneralhome.com.