Rosetta Lockhart Smith

Friday, April 12, 2013

Rosetta Lockhart Smith lived 92 years.

Her surroundings changed from a cotton farm in Crittenden County, Ark., to the huge industrial motor city of Detroit, and ended in Cleveland, Ohio, almost a century later. She lived a full life!

Rosetta (known by most as "Rose") was born the ninth child of 15 siblings to Arthur and Corrine Lockhart, on March 18, 1921, in Hollis Bluff, Miss. Although she spent the next 17 years in the country on various cotton plantations with her family, she said that she preferred city living and moved to Memphis as soon as she could. In Memphis, Rose met and married Ivy Curtis Smith, a cobbler, (a full-fledged shoe maker).

In 1948, Rose and Ivy Curtis (known by all as "IC") moved to Detroit. IC and Rose raised her sister Girtie B.'s son Larry as their own. Both Larry and IC preceded Rose in death. In Detroit, Aunt Rose and IC were introduced and baptized into the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall and remained faithful servants until their deaths.

When Rose became ill and lost her sight in 2001, she and her brother, Booker T, were encouraged by Gerri Kuykendoll to not continue to live alone. So she and Booker moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and into the household of her younger sister, Mennie Bell McKinney, and eventually into a separate assisted living apartment, and later into the home of her loving niece and nephew, Freddie and Henry Cook.

Aunt Rose picked cotton, as little as possible, worked as a waitress at the Greyhound Bus Station and sorted Christmas mail in the post office, but she spent most of her adulthood working as a nurse's aide in hospitals and private homes in Detroit. She was most proud of the work she did as a Jehovah's Witness, spreading the word on her corner of Ivanhoe Street in Detroit.

Aunt Rose's life ended at Cleveland Clinic Hospital on April 4, 2013, around 11 p.m. She loved cats and dogs. They loved her back. She loved people, and they loved her back. She loved her family, and they loved her back. And she loved God. And we know he loved her back!

Rose's sisters and brothers were as follows: Sylvester Lockhart, Susie B. Garner (Charles Paul), Arthur Lockhart Jr. (Catherine) Grover Lockhart (Mary), Rutherford Lockhart, Booker T. Lockhart, Thellie Lockhart, Margaret Lockhart, Mennie Bell McKinney (Lee Andrew), Vernon Lockhart (Willie Pearl), Elsie Jane Lockhart, Leodis Lockhart and Girtie B. Crawley (Sol). All of these preceded Rose in death. Rose brings that generation to a close.

According to the comments from close nieces: Corrine Wallers of Luxora, Genora Hernandez of Chicago, Johnnie Truvillion of Blytheville and Brenda Lockhart of Milwaukee, Aunt Rose was loved by a host of nieces, nephews and cousins from across the United States.

Rose will live on in the memories of her descendants who number well over a hundred (literally), nieces, nephews, great and grand, and many cousins. Rose will be missed by her many friends and congregation members. Rose was still making new friends in her hospital bed.

Acknowledgements may be directed to Freddie McKinney Cook to other immediate members of the family. A public viewing will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall, located at 4333 Lee Road, Cleveland, OH 44128 (216-991-1115). Family viewing times have been arranged for Monday at the Kingdom Hall. The burial will immediately follow the funeral services on Monday afternoon at the Kingdom Hall and will be held at Riverside Cemetery located at 3607 Pearl Road, Cleveland, OH 44109 (216-351-4800).