Laura Alice Smith

RALEIGH - Loving wife, mother and grandmother, Laura Alice “Lollie” Robertson Smith, went to join the heavenly chorus from Rex Hospital, Raleigh, North Carolina on September 19, 2021. Born on Friday the 13th of October, 1933 in Leaksville, NC. She and her husband have made their home in Raleigh since 1960. Laura graduated from Leaksville High School in 1952 where she excelled in vocal performance especially in her church and then followed her heart and faith to attend Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia for one year before following her mother’s wishes and enrolling in the new School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC. She graduated in 1957 and was licensed as a Registered Nurse, working for one year as a home health nurse for the Rockingham County Health Department. Her strong Christian faith had led her to attend an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship conference while at UNC where she met Clyde Smith, Jr. from Greensboro, NC. They were married December 27, 1958 and immediately moved to San Antonio, Texas where Clyde was stationed as a member of the U.S. Army. She was employed as a home health nurse with the Bexar County Health Department until the birth of their first child. Upon their return to North Carolina, she stayed at home with their growing family. When the youngest of their three boys went to school, she reentered nursing as a psychiatric nurse with Wake Memorial Hospital. When the opportunity came, Laura joined the Wake County Department of Health as a home health nurse. After her retirement, she worked for several year with Resources for Seniors again doing home health visitation and supervising home health aides. The first thing Laura and Clyde did when arriving in Raleigh was to start visiting churches, and finding Tabernacle Baptist Church a good match, they joined in 1961 and began a faithful commitment to Christ and the Church. Laura worked in the nursery, taught music to children, taught high school Sunday school teenagers and adults, sang in the choir and became a faithful member of the Pearl SS class. Laura is survived by her husband, Clyde Smith, Jr. of the home; her sons, Clyde Franklin Smith of Chattanooga TN, John Brady Smith and wife, Ella Ann B. Smith of Raleigh, NC, and H. Dale Smith of Hartford, CT; grandsons, Joshua Brady Smith of Burbank, CA and Benjamin Bruce Smith of Raleigh, NC; nephew, Warren Robertson; and sister-in-law Michele G. Smith of Greensboro, NC. Funeral service will be held at 1:00 PM Friday, September 24, 2021, at Tabernacle Baptist Church. Interment will follow at Historic Oakwood Cemetery. Family will receive friends from 12:00-1:00 at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Music Ministry of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, 8304 Leesville Road, Raleigh, NC 27613 or the Spoken Word Ministries, Inc., Missionary Outreach to the Blind, 205 West John St., Mount Olive, NC. 28365. A service of Bryan-Lee Funeral Home, Raleigh. Condolences may be made to bryan-leefuneralhome.com .