Ms. Anita Faye Smith

Published 6:33 pm Wednesday, January 30, 2019

ATLANTA — Anita Faye Smith, 57, passed away at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital on Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. She was born in Valley on March 28, 1961 to Gordon Ray and Ira Pearl Smith.

Anita spent much of her life serving others in both her career as a nurse and in her personal life. She worked in clinical research with several years in the field of cancer. She also helped others navigate their care through this vicious disease that would, on its fourth attempt, finally claim her life.

Anita rarely refused help to anyone who asked, from family to homeless boys who needed a place to go even when it would have been more convenient or probably even wise to do so. She took in children who were not her own and loved them through issues that no one should have to face. Her smile would light up a room, and she kept her sense of humor to the end. She was stronger than she knew and was loved more than she ever imagined.

She is survived by her three children, sons Joseph Smith and Caleab Smith, and daughter Alissa Smith; four sisters, Linda (Donnie) Baker, Paula (Kenneth) Fuller, Joyce (John) Pitcher, and JoEllen Weldon; one brother – Mark (Shirley) Dickinson, and three generations of nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by two sisters, Laura Scavonne and Debra Wade, and by both her biological parents and Fred and Betty Dickinson, the couple who raised her as their own.

The family will receive visitors Friday, Feb. 1, 2019 at Bluffton Funeral Services in Lanett from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST.

A service celebrating Anita’s life will be held Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 at Eastside Community Church, 141 Hammett Road, LaGrange, Ga. at 2 p.m. EST. with M.L. Rigsby officiating.

Interment will be held immediately after at Meadoway Gardens Cemetery on Hamilton Road in LaGrange.

For online condolences please visit our website at www.blufftonfuneralservices.com. Services have been entrusted to Bluffton Funeral Services, Lanett.