Charles Etta Smith

Charles Etta Smith

A Celebration of Life honoring the life and legacy of renowned retired educator, Charles Etta Watts Smith will be held on Saturday, June 1, 2024, at the Morehouse Baptist Education Association, 8420 Collinston Road, Bastrop, LA, at eleven o'clock in the morning.  Rev. Michael Smith will serve as the officiant of the services.  The interment will follow the services in H. V. Adams Cemetery. The family will share fond memories  with former students and friends  on Friday evening, May 31, 2024, from five to seven p.m. at St. Mary C.M.E.  Temple, 1107 West Madison Avenue, Bastrop, LA 71220.  To send words of condolence, flowers, plants, or light candles, kindly follow directions to the left.

**Family and friends are asked to turn on their emergency flashers as we travel from the Morehouse Baptist Educational Association Building to H. V. Adams Cemetery. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.**

"Music is the Voice of God!"

"Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.' Psalm 95:1

"Music is the voice of God! Music is the voice of God!  It's an international language, understood by all mankind. Music is the voice of God!" So describes the life of Charles Etta Watts Smith.  A life that began on a warm September Sunday, the 18th to be exact, in 1938.  Clarksdale, Mississippi was her place of birth to Susie and Julius Watts, Sr.

As with other families in that era, education was of utmost importance to the Watts family. After high school young Charles Etta embarked on an educational journey that began at Tougaloo College in the Tougaloo area of Jackson, a private historically black HBCU. However, her love for education and her desire to become a teacher led her to Grambling College, another historically black college, that had the student teaching program she wanted. After graduation, she was offered a position in the small town of Bastrop, LA, and a teaching career that would span some thirty plus years began.

Teaching, touching, and molding young lives was Charles Etta’s great joy. She delighted in seeing the “lights come on” in the eyes of her young students. Her creativity and her ability to encourage even the most reluctant learner endeared her to her students. Charles Etta Watts Smith touched the lives of hundreds of children through education.

In 1960, Charles Etta met a handsome, debonair gentleman, one Perry C. Smith, Sr. Because music was such an important part of her life, she was immediately attracted to his rich baritone voice. A whirlwind courtship ensued, and on June 5, 1961, Charles Etta Watts became Mrs. Perry C. Smith Sr. A wonderful life began that included their children: Alphonse, Perry Jr., Joseph, Michael, and baby, Tanya. A life filled laughter, adventures, and of course, MUSIC!

Church-oriented activities were a vital part of her life. Charles Etta served as the organist for her beloved St. Mary C. M. E. Temple. She was a member of the Stewardess Board, a member of The Women of Faith and Favor, a vacation Bible school teacher, and she started the first children’s choir.

She was a proud Soror of the Ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc,  and  a member of Place Aux Dames. Her beautiful smile and her kind spirit radiated whenever she entered a room. She always greeted friends and strangers alike with her radiant smile

She leaves to cherish her wise counsel, her fun-loving spirit, her everlasting love of life, and music: four grateful children: Perry C. Smith, Jr. (Shelia), Joseph Paul Smith (Barbara), Michael Smith (Patricia), and Tanya Smith-Pettigrew (Aaron), a host of grandchildren, great grandchildren, relatives, friends, and students who adored her.

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, May 21, 2024, at Rapides Regional Medical Center, Charles Etta Watts Smith, quietly answered her Father’s call.

“She Rested in the Bosom of Her God”

Amen! Amen!

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