Sue Smith

Funeral services for Sue Neal Smith, 78, of Hudson will be held Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. in the Carroway Funeral Home Chapel with Reverend Carroll Hambrick officiating. Interment will follow in the Wallace Chapel Cemetery.

Mrs. Smith was born June 3, 1933 in San Augustine, Texas to the late Mae (Waller) and Jesse H. Neal, and died Thursday, September 29, 2011 in a local nursing home. She resided in Hudson most of her life and was a homemaker. Mrs. Smith was a member of Providence Baptist Church.

Mrs. Smith was fiercely independent from an early age. As a young woman, she was a voracious reader when it was forbidden, secretly learned to drive her father's car, sang and played guitar on the radio, and was a masterful self-taught seamstress who helped her mother raise her young brothers and sister. Later on, she became a mother to not only her five children but an entire neighborhood. She cultivated beautiful roses, cooked delicious dumplings, and loved nothing more than to sit outside and drink coffee with her husband. When her grandchildren came along, they became the light of her life, and she theirs. Mrs. Smith was funny, fiery, rebellious and sweet, the center of a close-knit universe of family and friends.

Survivors include her sons and daughters-in-law, Dennis and Becky Smith of Nacogdoches, Tim and Rhonda Smith, Alan and Linda Smith, Todd and Michele Smith, all of Hudson; daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Kevin Crawford of Hudson; grandchildren, Ty Smith and wife Kira, Ben Smith, Tim Coy Smith, Hannah Smith, Jessi Smith, Caitlyn Smith, Cade Crawford, Coy Michael Smith, Jacob Smith and Bethany Smith; brothers and sisters-in-law, Bill and Mary Neal and Gerald and Kathy Neal, all of Lufkin; sister and brother-in-law, Gracie and David Stone of Lufkin; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Jimmie and Bob Putnam of Lufkin; and numerous nieces, nephews and other relatives.

In addition to her parents, Mrs. Smith was preceded in death by her husband, Howard Coy Smith; granddaughter, Faith Smith; and brothers, Earl Neal, Roland Neal, Harlan Neal and Lee Roy Neal.

Pallbearers will be Mrs. Smith's grandsons.

Memorial contributions may be made to Heart to Heart Hospice, 209 Christie Street, Lufkin, Texas 75904.

The family will welcome friends and loved ones from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Friday evening at the funeral home.

Memories and condolences may be added at www.carrowayfuneralhome.com.

Carroway Funeral Home, Lufkin, directors.