“She believed in the power of Prayer.”
Juanita Smith (Mrs. C.A. Smith) has graduated to Heaven at age 94.
Her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, came to her bed and she reached out to take his hand on Dec. 15, 2020. He surely said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” and took her home to Heaven. Juanita started serving her Lord Jesus when she was just a teenager and taught her own Sunday school class. Her adult teacher recognized that she had a wonderful gift for teaching others. Every Sunday her teacher let her teach the lesson because she knew that Juanita had always studied and prepared. Juanita had been born into a family where both parents only had a third-grade education. However, she wanted to go to college. Her church pastor helped pay her way and she became the first in a long list of college graduates in her family.
After college she met and married C.A. Smith in Attalla, Alabama where they both grew up. He came out to the Fort Worth Seminary to study, and eventually the couple ended up serving Lakeside Baptist Church (now Lake Pointe Church) for around 50 years. She taught a large ladies’ class there for more than 35 years. She would start her study for the next week’s lesson on Sunday night and work all week to make it the best lesson she could possibly give.
Even more than being a gifted teacher, she was a real prayer warrior. Many White Rock families have benefited from her fervent prayers for them throughout the years.
Juanita also blessed thousands of kids over her long teaching career with Dallas ISD. She ended this career by spending many years at S.S. Conner as the librarian reading stories to kids who loved to come to the library to hear her. At age 73, she started going on mission trips to Brazil and the Ukraine and was the only teacher of the Bible stories for groups of over 200 kids.
The last avenue that she served her Lord was by being the Day Coordinator every Wednesday for the White Rock Center of Hope. She was in charge of everything that went on during that day each week. The volunteers loved her and respected her skills. She held this position until about five years ago.
She was preceded in death by her husband, C.A. Smith of Dallas and her son Art Smith of Dallas. She is survived by one sister, Peggy Cole of Attalla, Alabama. She is also survived by her daughter, Anita Cawlfield and her husband, Johnny, of Stillwater, Okla. She has four surviving grandchildren: Jennifer Burns and her husband Paul, Chet Smith, Bob Cawlfield and his wife, Diana, and Janita Cormell and her husband, Curtis. Her great grandchildren are Avery Pitman, Brandt and Sophie Cawlfield, Alaina and Caroline Cormell.
A graveside service was held on Wednesday, Dec. 23 at Restland Cemetery. Visit RestlandFuneralHome.com to view the service.