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Estelle Smith was born on March 19, 1920, in Lincoln County, Tennessee. Her father, John Edgar, was 29, and her mother, Sallie, was 30. Her step-brother Jared was 17, her half-brother Charlie was 11, and her sisters Gladys and Hulda, were 4 and 2 respectively. Sandra Cummings Taylor, our cousin (Gladys) relates that, “Granny had a dream when she was pregnant with Estelle, that she should name the child Estell if a boy, or Estelle if a girl. That’s what she did!” 

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Estelle later wrote that, as a child, she always wanted to be a missionary in China. She knew that she could never afford to go to China on the family’s meager finances, so after high school, she decided to go to nursing school, following in the footsteps of her older sister, Hulda.

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In 1938, she started a 3 year “Diploma Program” [work and earn money while earning a nursing degree] at Baroness Erlanger School of Nursing in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She graduated in September, 1941.

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In December, when the United States entered WWII with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she and 7 other classmates joined the Army (she recorded that her draft number was 1A anyway, so she proactively joined). She entered Active Duty on 9 Feb, 1942, and went to her basic training course at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. The US was already receiving casualties. Estelle left a short synopsis of her military career and assignments. Where most new officers go to a basic course, and spend the day going to classes, learning how to salute, take orders, wear your uniform, etc., she and other nurses were needed right away for their medical skills. So the normal “Basic Training” was done before and after a full working day and duty hours in the hospital.

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As she was finishing nursing school and beginning her military career, back home in Mulberry her father John Edgar was becoming ill. Her 15-year younger brother, John Paul (1935) left a wonderful Memoir of his time growing up in Mulberry, and chronicled this chapter in his family history in detail.

John Edgar, their father, had issues with alcohol consumption, was overweight and smoked. In the early 1940s, he began to get ill with what would ultimately be diagnosed as kidney disease, certainly related to his habits and poor health, and likely secondary issues such as hypertension. In early 1943, he became bedridden. Hulda, now married to Henry Carbine, was a nurse in Chattanooga. They had their only daughter, Charlotte Oline, in October of 1942. Henry was drafted into the Army and deployed in 1943. Hulda decided that she needed to put her nursing career on hold and return to Mulberry to help her mother care for her father, and her 4 remaining young siblings at home -Doug (1927) Joe (1930), Barbara (1932) and John Paul (1935).

John Paul writes that Estelle was granted a short leave from the Army to come home and visit. He wrote about how proud he was when Estelle arrived, getting off the bus in uniform! He recalls that she couldn’t stay long, and how he so wanted to leave and go back to Alabama with her. While home, Estelle convinced her mother, Sallie, to allow her to file for Legal Guardianship of her and the 4 younger children. Before she left to return to Alabama, her sick father asked to speak to her in private. Both John Paul and Sallie (later in life) suspected that it had to do with asking Estelle to carry the family through his death, and get the remaining kids through high school.

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Her next assignment after Ft. McClellan was aboard the U.S. Army Transport “Comfort”, a hospital ship that ferried wounded from Bremerhaven, Germany to New York, about every 6 weeks. She did this assignment for 3 years, and wrote that she loved days when she was assigned to Operating Room duty the most. She even had to assist an operation once during a hurricane at sea!

She had a beau named “Tom” during those years, but no record of his full name remains, or whatever became of their relationship. The remains evidence that they discussed getting married, and that something happened.

She later wrote that she didn’t know why she never married, but resigned herself to the fact that she just never had time.

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She was promoted to Captain on March 2, 1948, and received a Regular Army Commission in March, 1949.

She was next assigned overseas to a Field Hospital unit at Bad Kreuznach, Germany, where she also was for 3 years.

She took advantage of her overseas assignment to visit other countries, visiting Italy and the Holy Lands while she was in Germany.

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In 1957, she was assigned to Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, completing an advanced course in Nursing Administration.

Estelle was promoted to Major 9 Dec 1957.

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She then spent a year in Pusan, Korea as the Chief of Nursing Services for the 11th Evacuation Hospital. During her Korea assignment, two Typhoons hit, and patients had to be evacuated from the Hospital Quonset huts to safer places.

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While in Korea, she again took advantage of things to visit Japan.

She then was assigned as the Chief of Nursing at Redstone Arsenal Army Hospital in Huntsville, Alabama, spending 2 years there.

Her last assignment in the Army was at Fort Campbell, KY, where she was the Chief of the nursing staff at the hospital for 3 years. She retired from the Army on 1 April, 1965 after 23 years of service.

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After retirement, she returned to Mulberry for a while, helping to care for her mother Sallie and sister Ruth. In 1966, she attended a RN Refresher course at her Alma Mater in Chattanooga.

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She later moved to Cleveland, Tennessee.

She died on September 17, 1998, in Cleveland, Tennessee, at the age of 78, and was buried there.

Estelle Smith
Memorial services for Estelle Smith, 78, Cleveland, who died Thursday, Sept. 17, are set for 10 a.m. Saturday at Grissom Funeral Home chapel, Cleveland, with burial in Ft. Hill Cemetery. The Rev. Craig Morgan and the Rev. Alex Waraksa will officiate. 
Her parents were the late John Edgar and Sarah Waggoner Smith. 
Survivors include a brother, John Paul Smith of Tucson, Ariz.; two sisters, Barbara Smith Rungee of Murfreesboro, and Gladys Smith Cummings of Cleveland. 
A communicant of St. Therese Catholic Church and a graduate of Baroness Erlanger Hospital School of Nursing, she had served 23 years in the U.S. Army Nursing Corps during World War II with duty in Europe and Korea. Her awards and decorations include the American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Army Occupation Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. 
Visitation will be held from 9-10 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home. 
Memorial contributions may be made to her church, 900 Clingan Ridge Drive N.W., Cleveland, Tenn., 37311. 
Dated: Sept. 18, 1998