Virginia S. Smith, 87, born Deidamía Virginia Trinidad Salazar Echeverría, passed away on January 7, 2023, in Rome Georgia. Surrounded by her family she passed in peace. She was a member of the First Baptist Church in Carrollton, Georgia, but was attending RiverRock Church, Roopville, Georgia.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, January 9, 2023 at 12 noon at Almon Chapel with Pastor Curtis Costley, minister of RiverRock and Pastor Lee Anderson officiating. The family will receive friends at Almon Funeral Home from 11 am until service time. Interment will be in Carrollton City Cemetery.

Mrs. Smith was born on December 29, 1935, in San Jose, Costa Rica. She was a descendant of the Echeverria family of the ancient Basque region of Northern Spain. The Echeverria men were Christian knights who fought the Arabs to protect Northern Hispánia. Later generations became conquerors of the New World, and their descendants reside in the Americas. Mrs. Smith graduated from La Escuela Catequística Arquidiocesana (Iglesia Católica) and worked in the Presidential House of Mario José Echandi Jiménez as a secretary. In the afternoons she attended the Universidad of Costa Rica where she studied child psychology and keyboarding. When not working or studying, she enjoyed traveling to Panama, Panama, and Nicaragua with her friends. Mrs. Smith was certified as a religion educator and taught religion to children in Limon, Costa Rica. In addition, she worked for the Civil Registry of Costa Rica in the Statistics and Census Department with one of the first IBM computers. She learned to love and to appreciate classical music and the operas from Carlos Seravalli Céspedes, her stepfather.

All her adult life, Ms. Smith had been driven by a desire from God to come to the United States to study and learn to speak English. In July 1963, Ms. Smith married Alton Percy Smith Jr., son of the late Alton Percy Smith Sr. of Carrollton, and moved to Georgia where she fulfilled her life-long dream. After arriving in Georgia, she worked at Bowdon Hospital in the labor and delivery area because of her love for babies. At West Georgia College, Mrs. Smith volunteered and assisted Steve McCutcheon in teaching English as a second language. After the arrival of her daughters, Mrs. Smith lived the rest of her life as a loving wife, mother to her five daughters, grandmother to twelve grandchildren, and great-grandmother to eight great-grandchildren. Mrs. Smith loved God, and she was blessed with a loving, caring, and pure spiritual gifts. She left behind a legacy of her great faith in Jesus Christ.

Mrs. Smith was preceded in death by her husband, Alton Percy Smith Jr.; her mother-in-law Doris Bertha Marsh Smith (Carrollton); her brother and sister-in-law Morgan H. and Christina Smith (Roopville); her parents Carmen María Echeverría Vega and Guillermo Salazar Soto and her sister Miriam de los Angeles Seravalli Echeverría de Sibaja (Costa Rica). She is survived by her five daughters: Dagnah Ada Rima Seravalli Echeverría Thompson (Georgia), Mary Isabella and Alan Terry (Florida), Doris Alyson Williamson (Georgia), Rebecca Lynn and Steve Hight (Georgia), Deborah Ann and Deron Brown (Colorado). Mrs. Smith was blessed with long life to see twelve grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren: David and Lauren Edwards Thompson (Carrollton); Jordon Smith and Javier Fernando Pardo (Colorado); Deida Louise Thompson (Carrollton); Jenna Reed Williamson (Marietta); Dean Alton (Colorado), Dillon Lee (California), and Devin Lucas Brown (Arizona); Isabella and Alan Terry's children; Olivia Hight and Terry Montgomery (Columbus); great grandchildren are Braydon Ryan Worthy; Abel James, Declan Luke, John Rockwell, and Grace Ann Thompson; Anders Percy, Leonardo Daniel Pardo; River Jude Rulon. Mrs. Smith has three living sisters: Elizabeth de los Angeles Seravalli Echeverria, Leda Isabel Seravalli Echeverría, and María de los Ángeles Seravalli Echeverria, as well as beloved nieces and nephews in Costa Rica. Also living are her brother and sister-in-law, Ray H. and Josette Smith (Carrollton).

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude's Children Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or online at http://www.stjude.org/donate/

Messages of condolences may be expressed to the family online at www.almonfuneralhome.com.

Almon Funeral Home of Carrollton has charge of arrangements.