Flora Wilkins Smith – We will tell your story…
Celebrating the Life of Flora Dean Wilkins Smith
My mother was never one to sit around and wait; mope, complain, passive-aggressively sulk. Nope, not Flo…and not her daughters, me and Bridgette.
When we found out the funeral home mistakenly forgot to add her obituary to the newspaper, I was heated. After a bit of lamenting that efforts would be futile for those that would want to search for her information online, then or in the future, I decided the best way to ensure our Mother’s information would be searchable, viewable, would be to use my platform to tell her story, accessible to anyone, at any time, while this medium is live and in living color.
Celebrate our mother’s life with us…
The Spring of 1953, March 4th to be exact, introduced a bouncy baby girl into this world that we’d come to know as Flora Dean Wilkins, affectionately known as Flo. Joining her sister, Ola Mae, Flo’s parents Frank and Mary Wilkins, the family of four settled their lives in the Grasselli Heights neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama.
Flo was the reserved, quiet one of the bunch, very sweet with a smile that would brighten any day, as her Wenonah Dragons classmates would describe, but don’t let the smile fool you. She was witty, speaking only when necessary, could run any and everyone from the card table, and when the beat dropped, would “walk the floor” dancing the entire night.
In the Spring of 1971, Flo caught the eye of a gentleman we’d all come to know and she’d come to love named Jimmy Lee Smith from the East Side. After becoming a party of two on March 8, 1975, they soon became a party of 4 with the birth of Jillian Lovejoy and Bridgette Renee.
Flo loved her family & her friends that would become family, loved being a Registered Nurse, and immensely loved being a MOM. In 2013, her only granddaughter Marley Savannah entered her heart, and their bond, while silent, was so heartfelt.
Flo’s impact was felt well beyond the exam room, as she chose Grant Chapel AME Church as her spiritual service home as a passionate member of the Stewardess Board and serving alongside her husband on Usher Board #3. Until her memory started failing, she would dress out on EVERY scheduled Sunday with her church mentors, who taught her the ins and outs of being the best Stewardess, whom we’re sure all welcomed her to eternal service Tuesday, May 18, 2021.
Although Flora’s chapter on Earth has ended, her eternal story, which she came to know, confess and demonstrate while here with us, has just begun with the Eternal Father and Author of our lives.
Flora Dean Wilkins Smith Obituary Birmingham Alabama