Abbie Ruth Pickett Rawls Smith

Abbie Ruth Pickett Rawls Smith was born in Nanih Waiya, Mississippi on July 16, 1937 and passed on December 28, 2024 in Kilgore, Texas after struggling with dementia. Abbie raised four successful children in her lifetime, which she considered one of her greatest achievements. Abbie and husband, Bill, whom she met while working at McDermott Engineering in Houston, Texas, traveled the world. They even lived in Saudi Arabia for a year, but they both loved their farm at Nanih Waiya the most and spent many wonderful years together there. After Bill’s passing, Abbie had her own house in Louisville which she loved very much. In her late years, she moved to Texas where all of her children lived. She was an avid gardener and enjoyed beautiful flowers. 

Abbie was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas Leslie Pickett and Mary Christine Warren Pickett; three brothers, Randolph Pickett, Henry Pickett, and Buddy Pickett, and two sisters, Dorothy Green and Betty Ann Williamson. 

She is survived by her four children, Rhonda Lynn Pinkston and husband Sandy, Mary Ann Murphy and husband, Stephen, Carol Sue Bonds and husband Stanley (deceased), and Tommy Ray Rawls and wife Allison; two sisters, Gloria (Wayne) Veazey and Doris Pickett Lovorn; a brother, Warren Pickett (Kay Robertson), and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Abbie was a Christian and put her faith and trust in Jesus Christ. 

Her funeral will be graveside at the cemetery off 397 at the former Mt. Hebron Methodist Church near Nanih Waiya on Friday, January 3, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. with Rev. Mike Childs officiating.