Elveta Smith

Ardith Elveta Smith entered the world on June 26, 1924, near the vast stretches of Brazos River bottomland of Falls County, Texas. Her father, Dennis Birkes was a World War I veteran, and her mother, Alma, was as strong a woman as you’d ever hope to meet. Elveta didn’t know it, but she, like all the rest of us fortunate enough to have the opportunity to live, was charged with a mission to accomplish on this Earth. She was an especially equipped candidate for her duty. And so it is with us all. Nothing happens by accident. Elveta passed away on Tuesday, October 31, 2017, at the age of 93. Graveside services will be 1:00 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 4, at Waco Memorial Park, with Rev. Barry Camp officiating. The family will receive visitors 6 – 8:00 p.m., Friday, Nov. 3, at Pecan Grove Funeral Home, 3124 Robinson Drive, Waco.
She graduated high school in 1943 and moved to Fort Worth to help with the war effort. During this time, her brother Dennis, a B-17 pilot, was shot down over Yugoslavia, subsequently rescued by locals, and harbored in a farmhouse until he could sneak back over enemy lines. He would later return after healing from a broken ankle and other injuries to conduct the rest of his 25 assigned missions. Elveta handled her brother’s disappearance like she did everything else, with a mix of faith and grace. After men and women like her brother Dennis defeated the evil of foreign tyranny, she returned to settle near Golinda. She birthed five children and every waking moment was dedicated to raising them with good faith and moral character.
Elveta Smith was as strong as steel, refined as linen, soft as cotton, and as faithful as the apostle John. She was the human embodiment of the virtuous woman from Proverbs. She grew vegetables in a garden just yards from her back porch. She canned those vegetables for winter, when ice and cold came to steal nature’s warmth. She sewed clothes for her children, improvised when things came up short, and employed the use of every divinely gifted resource available to her. There was nothing she couldn’t or wouldn’t do for the family she had been commissioned to raise. Her work was diligent and tireless.
In July of 1972, her 17-year-old son David was killed in a car accident. Thirty years later, she lost another son. She always told us life prepares you to bury your parents and your spouse, but there’s nothing in the book about burying your children. But like the many days before when reality and expectation collided in Elveta’s life, she turned to a faith that helped her survive these tragic losses. In word and deed, in light and shadow, in every valley and on every hilltop, she was a woman whose faith emanated from her spirit’s quiet epicenter.
In this writer’s humble opinion, we are all given something. Every tool we need to till our soul’s soil and grow a creation to better the field we are assigned is with us from the very first moment our eyes open to the horizon, no doubt a gift from God. Elveta Smith faithfully carried out her duties until her mission’s completion. If we can learn anything from her time with us, it is that diligence solidifies glory and faith carries us through when we feel we cannot trudge any further.
She was joyfully welcomed home by her Lord, in the company of her brothers Milton and Dennis Birkes and sister Lorene Carter, her husband Frank Smith, and her children David and Mike Duty. She is survived by her brother Wallace Birkes and sister Melba Maddox. Her departure is grieved by her children, Sandy and Woody Stroud, Roland and Mary Duty, and Veta and Craig Cale. Her legacy is celebrated by her grandchildren, Justin, Susan, Caleb, Faith, and Hope Duty, Kelly DiCorte and Stephen Stroud, Blaine, Marissa, and Cameron Cale. Eleven great-grandchildren will grow up on the stories of their pioneering, Wonder Woman Great-Grandmother. The family would like to express their sincere gratitude for the staff at Wesley Woods Nursing Home and the angels at Providence Hospice.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Elveta’s name to Providence Hospice, 6700 Sanger Ave., Waco, TX, 76710.