Evelyn Anne Smith

Our beloved daughter, Evelyn Anne Smith, age 39, lost her longstanding battle with severe mental illness and transitioned to Eternal Life on June 28, 2022. Evelyn was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 22, 1983, to Virginia Sory Brown and Mark Brampton Smith. She was baptized into the Episcopal Church on Mother’s Day of 1983 at Saint Paul’s Parish, K St, Washington DC, and grew up at Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills MI. She was raised in Ann Arbor MI and attended King Elementary School, the Emerson School, and Huron High School from which she graduated with honors in 2001. She was a proud member of Girl Scout Troop 940, from King Elementary, for eight years, and studied at the Community School of Ballet for 14 years.

She earned a BA in English from the University of Michigan in 2005. During her undergraduate years and beyond, she volunteered with the University of Michigan Prison Creative Arts Project, teaching creative writing in a women's prison and travelling to prisons across the state to help to select art works for their annual exhibition. Social justice and equality were very important to Evelyn. After graduation, Evelyn spent a year volunteering for AmeriCorps VISTA in Roseburg, OR. This sparked a passion for social work and working with at-risk youth. Returning to Ann Arbor, she worked in development at the Neutral Zone for a time, then relocated to St. Louis, MO earning a Master of Social Work from Washington University in 2011. She lived in Boston, New York City, and later Burlington, VT, where she loved and was comforted by the beauty and the closeness to nature in the Green Mountains.

Born into a musical family, it was no surprise that Evelyn had a strong propensity for music, studying piano, singing, and her favorite instrument, the cello. She was a member of the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale, the Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts Youth String Orchestra, Michigan Youth Chamber Choir, and Michigan Youth Symphony. During her Boston years, she returned to her musical roots and enrolled at the Berklee College of Music, studying in the singer/songwriter program and in music production.

In addition to music, Evelyn loved gardening and earned a master gardener certificate. She was an accomplished yoga practitioner, became certified as a yoga teacher, and taught in various studios in Boston and Jamaica Plain, MA. She loved solving crossword puzzles, studying loom weaving, animals, travel, and attending the Stratford Festival of Canada with her mother. Evelyn's kind and generous spirit will be missed by all who knew her.

Last September, she returned to Ann Arbor to be near her mother and seek more specific medical treatment for her mental illness.

She is survived by her mother Virginia Sory Brown of Ann Arbor, her father Mark Brampton Smith (Catherine) of Stoughton WI, brother Simon Peter Brampton Smith of Bellevue, WA, and numerous cousins around the United States. She also leaves two dear lifelong friends: Gwenyth Landes of Bremerton, WA, and Christi Rivard Swickler of Livonia, MI. She was predeceased by her grandparents: Jordan Stokes Brown and Anne Sory Brown, and Robert Wesley Smith and Charmian Ettinger Smith.

If desired, memorial contributions may be made to the Humane Society of Huron Valley (www.hshv.org) or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (www.afsp.org).

A memorial service will be held on Monday, August 15th at 11:00 AM at First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor with the Rev. Darcy A. Crain officiating. Family visitation will begin at 9:30 AM and a luncheon will follow at the Church in Pilgrim Hall. Inurnment will occur later in Springfield, TN.

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Romans 14:8 ( NIV)