Charles Ruth Smith

The world became a different place when it lost Port Neches resident Charles Ruth (Blackmon) Smith on February 11, 2010 to an illness she faced in the same manner she did all adversities -- with self determination, dignity and quiet fortitude. The world somehow became less genteel, less courageous.

To the many people who loved her, she was known by many names -- Ruth to most, Charles Ruth to favorite nephews, Smitty to nursing colleagues, Tootsie to others, but always as Mama or Mother to her beloved son, Kendall Smith.

Born July 20, 1936 in Prentiss, Miss., Ruth was the living embodiment of the American success story. Raised in Depression-era rural Mississippi, she had her share of picking cotton, rendering hogs, boiling cane for sugar, and making homemade soap. When not completing the many chores of her youth, she also took time to play on her school's girl's basketball team. Like many of her generation, she knew hard times, but through her lifetime worked hard to build a successful career that left her able to pursue her passion -- traveling the world.

Married to Kendall Lamar Smith until his death in 1969, Ruth ran a small family store on Railroad Ave., while putting herself through Nursing School at Lamar University. That experience served as a powerful example for her son, as he marveled at her ability to earn her degree while working full-time.

Ruth spent most of her career at Mid-Jefferson Memorial Hospital where she specialized in Labor and Delivery, although she also spent time as an Emergency Room nurse, and as a Supervisor. Later in her career, it was not unusual for Ruth to help deliver the babies of individuals she had helped bring into the world. Upon ""retiring"", she continued to work part-time when needed, and volunteering.

But it was travel that truly enriched Ruth's life. And she traveled often. Her home was filled with the mementoes of global excursions that most people can only dream about. Whether she was riding atop reed boats in Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, kayaking off the Pacific Coast of Central America, riding in questionable river boats in Zimbabwe or the Ecuadorian Amazon, snorkeling in the Galapagos, or viewing the condors in the high Peruvian Andes -- Ruth always sought adventure -- and she almost always was successful.

Her journeys -- often with her son, his partner Ron Gilmore or her sister Elizabeth Jones -- took her to every continent other than Antarctica. Her annual treks provided her astonishing and diverse adventures and experiences. She was just as content watching a production of Carmen in an ancient Roman amphitheater in Turkey as she was perched high atop an elephant in the Thai rainforest. Ruth reveled in the excitement of whitewater rafting in Alaska's Denali Park, felt peace as she drifted along the haunting Li River in China, and marveled at the Scottish gardens of Pitlochery. She was as comfortable playing with school children in a Costa Rican mountain village as she was having syrupy-sweet coffee in the narrow alleyways of Old Cairo.

While her travels brought her much pleasure, Ruth also enjoyed the simple things of every day life -- the brilliant Spring bloom of her azaleas, a homemade fig preserve, amaryllis at Christmas and decorating her home for special holidays. She made a mean buttermilk pie, and no visit by her son was complete without fried steak, turnip greens, iron-skillet corn bread, and chicken and dumplings. Her home was packed with the reminders of her travels, the aroma of home-cooked food, breathtaking plants, and her collections of teapots and pillows for which she somehow found room.

Although Ruth was a private person, she maintained her friendships, was a loyal neighbor, and loved her family most of all. She was generous, patient, steel-willed, reserved but compassionate, respectful, and pursued life with courage. It was the illness that took her life that proved to be the most courageous experience of all. Through all the treatments, and discomfort, she was, as always, Ruth -- uncomplaining, persevering, and almost unimaginably independent -- but most importantly, loved by her family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Humane Society of Southeast Texas,

P. O. Box 1629, Beaumont, TX 77704-1629.