Hellen Marie Day Smith

Hellen Marie Day Smith, 85, formerly of Ft. Worth and Weatherford, passed away on September 30, 2020, in Hamilton, Texas.  Funeral services will be held on October 5, 2020, at 2:00 p.m., at Marshall and Marshall Funeral Directors in Whitney with Rev. Suzi Robertson officiating. Burial will follow at Whitney Memorial Park in Whitney. A visitation will be held from 2 - 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, October 4, at the funeral home.

Hellen Marie Day was born in Hillsboro, Texas to Oscar Day, laborer, and Hellen Luciel Frazier Day, homemaker, on June 11, 1935. Her father died while she was an infant, but when she was 12 years of age her mother married her Daddy, George W. New, who officially adopted her in 1984. Hellen grew up in the Hillsboro and Whitney, Texas area. She lived most of her life in Fort Worth, where she raised her three children, George Wayne Smith, Barbara Sue Smith Swyryn, and Carol Ann Smith; attended college; and worked as a social worker for the State of Texas. Hellen retired to Weatherford, Texas with a short residency in Laguna Park, TX.

While attending 9 years of night school and raising her children, Hellen worked fulltime in secretarial positions at Alcon Laboratories, Bell Helicopter, and the U.S. Marshals Office. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas Wesleyan College in 1974 and a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1980. She worked passionately as a social worker within the Dallas/Fort Worth area for approximately 15 years, then went into private practice working in adoptions.

Hellen was a prolific reader and writer of poetry and short stories; a member of the Fort Worth Sherlockian Group, The Shy Violets; an avid John Wayne fan; a volunteer for the Circle Theater and Theater Off The Square, The Texas Pythian Home in Weatherford, TX, and St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Worth; collector of vintage dolls and seamstress of doll clothes, a lover of the arts and our canine friends.  She was an inspiration to her children and grandchildren. She inspired them to volunteer where needed, be active in the performing and visual arts, to work to preserve nature and wildlife, and to serve in our communities.

Hellen lost her struggle with several health problems and passed away on September 30, 2020 at the Focused Care Nursing Home in Hamilton, Texas to where she recently moved.

Hellen was dearly loved by her family and friends and will be truly missed. She is survived by her son, George Wayne Smith and his wife Elaine Smith, Fort Worth, TX, and her two daughters: Barbara Sue Smith Swyryn, Weatherford, TX, and Carol Ann Smith and her husband David Broyles, Gatesville, TX.; grandchildren: Sharilyn Marie Carpenter and her partner Andy Norris, Carrolton, TX; Curtis Nelson and his wife, Brook, in Weatherford, TX; Lauren Hale Gonzales and her husband John Paul; Arlington, TX; Victoria Nech and her husband Travis, Hamilton, TX; and Barbara Elizabeth Swyryn and her partner Michael Jones in Austin, TX; and 13 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great grandchild, plus one on the way; and last but not least, her beloved first cousin, Wanda Raines of Laguna Park, Texas and several other extended close cousins.