Sarah Pryor Shelton Smith, 95, a lifelong resident of Marion County, Tennessee, and a descendant of a number of prominent Marion County pioneer families, died April 18, 2011 at her home in Jasper, following an extended illness. She was preceded in death by her husband, Hugh Thomas Smith, who died March 17, 2001.
"Miss Sally" or "Cousin Sally," as she was affectionately known by so many people in and around Jasper, was born November 30, 1915, to Dr. David Carrah Shelton and his wife, the former Alberta Washington "Bertie" Bennett and was their only child to survive infancy. Her maternal grandparents were Colonel Samuel Hunter Bennett and his wife, the former Sarah "Sallie" Green Pryor. Her paternal grandparents were Dr. Richard Elijah Shelton and his wife, the former Mary Elizabeth Thatcher. Miss Sally's Pryor line goes back to Washington Green Pryor and his wife, Ruth Kelly, both members of pioneer Marion County families.
As a child, Miss Sally often went with her father, who was a beloved country doctor in the Jasper area. He had an office in Jasper, but most of his practice involved house calls by horse and buggy, and later by automobile. Dr. Shelton packed little Sally's diapers in a basket and took her with him on his rounds. According to Sally, by the time she was eight or ten, Dr. Shelton would let Sally drive him on his rounds.
At an early age, Miss Sally attended Mrs. America Rankin's private school for girls and boys held in Mrs. Rankin's home in Jasper; afterwards, she was educated at the Mineral Springs School in Marion County, and at Marion County High School, from which she graduated in 1933. While at the University of Chattanooga, she became a charter member of Phi Mu Sorority, and always said that she attended every dance they had. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Biology from the University of Chattanooga in 1937, with post-graduate courses at the University of Chattanooga, George Peabody in Nashville, and at Fernbank in Atlanta.
Before her college years, Miss Sally's parents opened their home for parties for Miss Sally and her friends, with live music provided by Lum Thomas, Joe Tanner and other local musicians. During her college years, her square-dancing group was invited to participate in a competition at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Sally not only went herself, she took a group of Marion County musicians along to play for the group.
Miss Sally taught in Marion County public schools for 47 years. She began her teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse at Oak Grove on the East Valley Road in Marion County, with grades 1 through 8. She also taught at Mineral Springs School, before beginning her long career at Marion County High School where she taught General Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. She is remembered with great affection by scores and scores of her students, many of whom went on to college and found that Chemistry as a university course was not a problem because Miss Sally had already taught them from a college textbook using a technique utilized by the best of their college professors. She was a longtime member of Delta Kappa Gamma, The American Chemical Society, the Marion County Education Association, the Tennessee Education Association and the National Education Association.
Miss Sally was a lifelong member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, starting on the "Cradle Roll" at Ebenezer Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where she grew up and where members of family had been members since its inception. She continued to be at Ebenezer for the fourth Sunday in May Meeting and Dinner on the Grounds until 2010, when her declining health kept her bedfast. At Jasper Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where she was a faithful member all of her adult life, she taught the Ladies Adult Sunday School class for innumerable years.
Miss Sally married Hugh Thomas Smith on August 20, 1940. They were featured in the local news several years ago when they conveyed a large number of acres of her family property to the Tennessee River Gorge Trust, so that those properties would be kept and preserved in their natural state for the benefit of future generations, and not sold for development. This was a very gratifying action for Miss Sally because of her great love of nature.
Everyone who knew Miss Sally knows that she loved her God, her family, her country, and her students.
Miss Sally is survived by her daughter, Shelly Smith Beene, of Jasper; two grandchildren, Jenny Bennett Beene Smith (Mrs. James Rogers, IV) of Merigold, MS and Thomas Patton Beene of New Orleans, LA; three great-grandchildren, Sarah Bennett Shelton Smith, James Rogers Smith, V, and Pryor Elizabeth McCarty Barnwell Smith of Merigold, MS and too many cousins and friends to count.
The family would like to thank Dr. Dabney James for her many years of kind and exceptional care, and would like especially like to thank her caregivers, Elaine Swafford, Holly Heneger, Elsie Shadrick, Shonia Christopher, Stacey Simmons and Hospice of Chattanooga.
Visitation with friends and family will be at the Jasper Cumberland Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall on Thursday, April 21st from 6 - 8PM Central Time. The celebration of her life will be in the sanctuary of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on Friday, April 22nd at 2PM Central Time.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to any of the following: Ebenezer Community Church, c/o Zach Kelly, 309 Betsy Pack Drive, Jasper, TN 37347; Jasper Cumberland Presbyterian Church, c/o Mrs. Ben Harris, 900 Riverbend Drive, Jasper, TN 37347; Marion County High School Library, c/o Mrs. Ann Brown, 160 Ridley Drive, Jasper, TN 37347 or Hospice of Chattanooga, 4411 Oakwood Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37416.