Mildred Smith

Long-time Piggott resident Mrs. Mildred Smith died on Tuesday, July 20, 2004, at the Piggott Community Hospital. Mrs. Smith was 106-years-old.

She was born March 9, 1898, in Clay City, Ill., the daughter of the late Charles Henry and Hannah Blessing Brissenden. The Brissendens moved to Piggott in 1905 when she was just seven-years-old.

She was united in marriage to Harold Dewey Smith. They had one son.

The Smiths went into business in Piggott in 1937. At the time, Mr. Smith's primary business was making harnesses and saddles, but as society progressed and farmers traded in teams of horses for tractors the business changed into a shoe store. Mrs. Smith worked in the store until around 1976.

She and Harold were friends of the Pfeiffer family. Mrs. Smith donated a German beer stein to the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center in 1998. The stein was given to her by Virginia Pfeiffer, the sister of Pauline Pfeiffer Hemingway, in 1928 after she returned from a visit to Europe. Mrs. Smith was also a member of a bridge club that included Pauline's mother, Mary Downey Pfeiffer. The bridge club played its games at various homes in the town.

In an interview in 1998, Mrs. Smith said that Ernest Hemingway spent a lot of time at the Smiths' shop on the courtsquare when he was in town.

Mrs. Smith was a charter member of the local V.F.W. Ladies Auxiliary and a member of the First Christian Church.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold Dewey Smith; one son, Charlie Bill Smith; one daughter-in-law, Betty Smith; and three sisters, Kathleen Doty, Burnice Thomas and Edna Rudolph.

She is survived by one grandson, Charles L. Smith of North Little Rock; one granddaughter, Brenda Smith of Greenway; three great-grandchildren, Angel White of Greenway, Valerie Linker of North Little Rock and Josh Smith of Little Rock; four great-grandchildren; one sister, Josephine King of Piggott; and other relatives and friends.

Funeral services were held at 1 p.m. Friday, July 23, 2004, in the First Christian Church in Piggott with Jay McPhearson officiating. Burial followed in the Piggott Cemetery. Pallbearers were Wade Smart, John Daniel Smart, Johnny Wade Schmidt, Jeff Linker, Chad Goodman and Bryan Lynch. Hoggard and Sons Funeral Home of Piggott was in charge of the arrangements.