Winell Smith

Winell Smith, 97, passed peacefully from this earth into her eternal home on May 5, 2024. Winell was born in 1926 in Fox, Oklahoma to William and Gladys Towles. 

After graduating from Fox Consolidated School in Oklahoma in 1944 she attended Texas State College for Women (TSCW). She graduated in 1948 with a degree in Secretarial Services and a Teaching Degree in Business.

After graduating she took a job at TSCW working for the purchasing agent. She taught night typing and shorthand classes at TSCW. She left TSCW in 1955 and started working in Dallas for Mobil Oil Company for the head of the land department.

While at TSCW she met Lonnie Smith who was attending North Texas State University (NTSU). They were married in 1957 in Monahans, TX. They moved to Fremont, CA in 1965 where she taught kindergarten. They relocated to Hobbs, NM in 1980 where Lonnie was in charge of the welding department at NMJC. Winell enjoyed oil painting, cooking and collecting cookbooks; she was an active member of First Baptist Church where she taught Sunday School for over 30 years. She was without question the spiritual matriarch of the family. The only time the family didn't have to go to church was if the Cowboys were televised. She considered the Cowboys "God's team".

She was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, her parents, and a beloved and best friend sister Sharon Jackson. She is survived by her brother BG Towles and wife Patsy, brother-in-law Bill Jackson of Oklahoma and brother-in-law Joe Bradford of Texas and longtime family friends, the Bud Redding family, who has operated the Towles Farm for over half a century

Winell's loving memory will be carried on by her two sons. Mark Smith and wife Melanie, one grand dog called "high pockets" by Winell: Michael and wife Karen, grand daughters Katherine and Meghan Smith, and 4 grand dogs.

Winell requested memorials made to Samaritan’s Purse.