Mrs. Sammie Beatrice Smith

Sammie Beatrice Smith was born in Scott, MS on July 30, 1923 and raised in Osceola, Arkansas. Sammie was the child of James and Mary Ophelia Hervey. Sammie attended Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Osceola, and was baptized in 1936. During her time at Pleasant Grove, Sammie sung in the choir and was the Sunday School secretary. Sammie started her education in 1930 at Porter School in Memphis, TN while living with an aunt. In 1932, she moved back home and attended Osceola School through the eighth grade and played forward on the basketball team. Sammie started working at age 14 at a canning factory, and at age 16 worked for a laundry for two years, all in the Osceola area. She moved to Benton Harbor, MI in 1944, where she worked in a war factory as a drill press operator and later worked in a laundry. In Benton Harbor, she joined Pilgrim Baptist Church and sung in the choir. Sammie moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1945, with her mother who died three months later. In Milwaukee,she worked at a waste paper factory, a laundry, and various other job before settling at a restaurant where she met the president of Master Lock who liked her pancakes. That encounter led to a 24 year career at Master Lock where she retired in 1985. Sammie joined Tabernacle Community Baptist Church in 1946, under the pastorate of the late Reverend Jewel L. Williams and continued to serve under the late Reverend Robert L. Harris and current pastor, the Reverend Don Darius Butler. For the next 69 years she sung in the Senior Choir, was one of the first church nurses, taught Sunday School, and served as chair of the Anniversary Committee and Kitchen Committee. She was influential in her work on the Love Committee (precursor to the Pastor and People committee), served as president for the Coalition of Aging and under the late Reverend Robert L. Harris received recognition and investiture as a "Mother of the Church". She was a member of The Order of Eastern Star for 60 years, where she served as the Worthy Matron over the Ruth Chapter 539 for 30 years and .ater became Grand Matron for the State of Wisconsin for 20 years. Mother Sammie B. Smith departed this life on January 14, 2015 at 6:24am and was preceded in death by her father James Hervey, mother Mary Ophelia Hervey, three brothers, one sister, and a spiritual daughter Lula Hicks. She leaves to cherish her memory her spiritual Children Darryl and Lila Blair, James Knight, Latanya Sims, Tiarra Bullock, a special cousin Theresa Perkins; very special people Rosa Jackson, Blanche and John Ogan, Helen Wallace, Lizzie and Willie Sims, Shirley Sharp, Deacon Alfred Seuell, a host of friends, and the entire Tabernacle Community Baptist Church Family.

Mrs. Sammie Beatrice Smith

July 30, 1923 - January 14, 2015