Patricia Ruth Jones Smith, age 83, peacefully departed this earth, from her home on Friday, October 23, 2020.  She was born February 28, 1937 and raised in Jellico, Tennessee.  She was a 1954 graduate of Jellico High School and a member of the First Baptist Church of Jellico.  On July 8, 1955, she married the LOVE OF HER LIFE, Bill Smith.  This union would last some 60 years until his death in 2015.
Patsy spent her professional career in banking, working in Oklahoma while her husband was in the military, then returning to his BELOVED KENTUCKY, working in Ashland and then in Lexington; where she spent the last 27 years of her career at First Security Bank.
Aunt Patsy, or Aunt Pat as she was known to family, enjoyed sewing, vegetable gardening and  flower gardening but, would be the first to tell you, she could even manage to kill a cactus.  She and Uncle Bill had a truck camper and spent every moment they could spare traveling in it.  They pretty much covered the eastern part of the country from Florida to Canada; however, they mostly enjoyed the parks of Tennessee and Kentucky.  They also, both loved antiques and collected for many, many years and at one time owned and operated an antique business.
Aunt Patsy has lived in her present home for around forty years and would be the first to tell you the biggest reason for that was her GOOD neighbors; Greg Kujawski, who did everything from helping with yard work to giving legal advice; Patty Hillard, whom Uncle Bill had known from his days of delivering milk to her house and Mark Avery, who every time he pulled his little red wagon up the hill to Kroger would give Aunt Patsy a call to see if she needed any bananas.
 Aunt Patsy practiced her Baptist faith throughout her life attending Gardenside Baptist Church in Lexington and when she was no longer able to get out, she enjoyed the video services of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.
She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, William Samuel Smith; father and mother, Paul Joseph Jones and Florence Anderson Jones; stepmother, Hazel Barton Hackler Jones; brother, William Jones, and wife Genevieve; sister, Pauline Princess Jones Garrett Moon, and husbands, Thomas Wayne Garrett and Harold Moon; step-brother, George Hackler, and wife, Faye; special aunt, Lillian Brandenburg; and nephew, Ritchie Jones.
She is survived by cousin, Polly Jones Hatmaker (who was raised as a sister) and husband, Wayne, of Soddy Daisy, Tennessee; nephews, Stephen Wayne Garrett, and wife, Gail, of Jellico, Tennessee, George Hackler, II, of Jellico, Tennessee, Tim Jones, and wife Barbara, of Knoxville, Tennessee, Joe Mac Jones, and wife, Laura, of Knoxville, Tennessee; niece, Willa Jean Widby, and husband, Robert, of Knoxville, Tennessee; special cousin, Albert Archer, of Bellingham, Washington; special caregiver, Billie
Crewey whom Aunt Patsy considered to be her nearest and dearest friend; several great-nieces and great-nephews and a few good friends.
Due to Covid 19 concerns, Aunt Patsy’s service will be conducted graveside at Lexington Cemetery, Wednesday, October 28, 2020 at 1:30 p.m.
Visitation will be at Milward Funeral Directors – Southland, Lexington, Kentucky on Wednesday, October 28, 2020 from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to First Baptist Church, 545 South Main Street, Jellico, Tennessee.
This obituary is a courtesy of the Cox & Son Funeral Home of Jellico.