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Aug. 6, 1942 – Sept. 30, 2022

HOUSTON, TX – Helen Jean Washington Smith, 80, of Pearland, Texas, passed away Sept. 30, 2022, in Houston, Texas.

Funeral services were held on Oct. 8, 2022, at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Her nephew, Bishop Don E. Bernard, Believers in Christ International Christian Center, Jacksonville Florida, and Rev. T.L. Richardson, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Bay City, Texas, officiated. Burial followed on Oct. 10, 2022, at Houston National Cemetery.

Helen was born on Aug. 6, 1942, to the late Engle Washington, Sr., and Annie Bell Davis Washington in the Sandy Creek area of Natchez, Mississippi, in Adams County. She graduated from Sadie V. Thompson High School in 1961 and matriculated at Natchez College and Alcorn State College.

She was married for fifty-seven years to her childhood sweetheart, Willie Lee Smith, Sr., and to this union, three children were born, Jacqueline, Teresa, and Willie, Jr.

Helen leaves to cherish her memory her husband, Willie Lee Smith, Sr.; children, Jacqueline Smith Terrell, Teresa L. Fuselier (Kevin) and son, Willie Lee Smith, Jr.; ten grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; siblings, Beatrice Hilliard, Rose M. (Frankie) Free, J.C. Washington, Sr., Claudie (Maxine) Washington, William H. (Joyce) Washington, Melvin K. (Gwen) Washington; sisters-in-law, Lorraine Smith, and Ernestine Smith; and a host of family and friends.

Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Troy B. Smith Professional Services.