Callie Jeanette (Devone) Smith

Callie Jeanette “Jean” Devone Smith was born October 27, 1942, to the late

Reverend Willie W. Devone and Ethel Pridgen Devone in the Long Creek Grady Township of Currie, North Carolina. Jean was raised in a strict and fair environment.  She became a member of St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in Rocky Point at a young age.  After moving to Boston, Massachusetts she became a member of People’s Baptist Church where she remained until her death.

            Jean was educated at the Pender County Training School of Rocky Point from where she graduated high school in 1960. She left North Carolina to live in Boston and worked with her Uncle Bill in his supermarket known as the People’s Market. This is where she met and fell in love with her sweetheart, Arthur Smith. They married in October 1964 at Charles Street A.M.E., Boston. To this union was born Cheryl Elayne Smith and Gary Smith.

           While working at the Prudential Center she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She became a teacher at Boston Public Schools and later earned her master’s degree. Jean was a teacher in the Boston Public Schools for 23 years and retired in 2001.  Jean enjoyed fishing, sewing, and drawing. She was a master of arts and crafts. She and Arthur loved renovating their properties. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend to all. You could tell her something with the utmost confidence and trust that she was never going to tell anyone else. 

            On August 19, 2020 she was admitted into Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. On September 24, 2020 she transitioned to Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care in Milton. There she entered a deep sleep and passed away peacefully in the early morning of October 10th. She will truly be missed by many but never forgotten.

 Jean was preceded in death by her husband Arthur Smith in 2009 and daughter Cheryl Elayne Smith Williams-Kalez in 2015. She is survived by:   Son: Gary Smith, Saugus; Granddaughters:  Kafe and Crystal Williams-Kalez of Jamaica Plain; Son-in-Law:  Christopher Williams-Kalez of Jamaica Plain; Siblings: Oliver J. Devone – Hyde Park, Fred J. Devone – Charlotte, NC, Eula Devone Armstrong (Edward) – Conyers, GA; Sisters-in-law: Helen Devone, Trevie Smith, Dorothy “Vernitia” Cooty (Alain), Brothers-in-law: John Braswell,  Carl Smith (Deborah), Whittaker Mack, Sr.,  Close friends of the family: Joe Sparks, Melissa Sparks; Nieces, nephews, aunts, cousins and a host of loving friends and relatives.

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