Her early life was one of many travels when her mother married Colonel Vance Cameron of the United States Army. She lived in Germantown, Pennsylvania and attended Fontbonne Hall Academy. She lived in Alexandria, Virginia, and Leavenworth, Kansas, and eventually graduated from High School in Monterey, California. Upon graduation from High School, the Colonel, Alice and Rachel moved to Havana, Cuba where Rachel was admitted and began college at Universidad de Villanueva la Habana (Villanova University’s branch campus). Upon the mobilization of troops by Fidel Castro, Rachel, Alice and the Colonel were compelled to leave Cuba and Rachel was enrolled in the University of Oklahoma. Rachel graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1959 with a degree in Spanish and Spanish History and a minor in French Linguistics.
Despite beginning her Master’s Degree at OU, her courtship with Don Allen Smith (of Seminole, Oklahoma) changed her course and they were married on December 20, 1958. Rachel and Don began their married lives in Norman, Oklahoma; spent 2 years in Muskogee, Oklahoma; and then made Fort Smith, Arkansas their own where they have been for over 55 years.
While Rachel was a homemaker, she was also a “community doer.” In Muskogee, OK she worked for the Department of Welfare Services. While in Fort Smith, she was the Chief Interpreter for all Federal legal actions in Fort Smith involving the Cuban Refugees housed at Camp Fort Chaffee and also taught English. She taught Spanish and French at Westark Junior College (now UAFS), Fort Smith Montessori School and Immaculate Conception Junior High (now Trinity Jr. High). To many, she was a known and celebrated painter. She was a devoted member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and considered herself a leader of the Yah-Yahs, the Flamingos and the Democratic Women’s Bridge Club.
Rachel is predeceased by her parents; and her granddaughter, Rachel Campbell Smith.
Rachel is survived by her devoted husband of 60 years, Don, of Fort Smith; by her children, B. Cameron Smith of Cambridge, Maryland, along with his wife Lucia, Diana M. Deck of Nibley, Utah, along with her husband Phillip; and their six children, Dreu, Ben, Savanah, Suzi, Tennessee and Sami, Stephen C. Smith of Fort Smith, Arkansas, along with his wife Mindy and their two children, Ewing and Sullivan. Rachel is also survived by her sister, Susan Karger of Boston, Massachusetts and her three children,
Paul, Wes and Susan and many extended family members in Iowa, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
A memorial mass will be celebrated at Christ the King Catholic Church at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, December 22, 2018. A visitation will be held Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. with a Rosary following at 6:00 p.m. at Edwards Funeral Home in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The Family would request that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in the name of Rachel Cameron Smith to Western Arkansas Ballet (www.waballet.org) at their website or mailed to Immaculate Conception School at 223 South 14th Street, Fort Smith, AR 72901.
