Bessie Hill Smith

March 15, 1928 - April 4, 2011

Lexington, SC Mrs. Bessie Hill Smith, 83, formerly of Great Falls, died Monday, April 4, 2011 at her home in Lexington. The funeral service will be held at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at Dutch Fork Baptist Church, 3517 Dreher Shoals Rd., Irmo, SC with Rev. Johnny Muller, Sr. and Rev. Richard Taylor officiating. Interment will be in Greenlawn Cemetery in Great Falls, SC. The family will receive friends from 1:00 – 2:30 PM on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at Dutch Fork Baptist Church and other times at the home at 119 Hunters Ridge Dr., Lexington, SC. Mrs. Smith was born March 15, 1928 in Kershaw County, SC and was a daughter of the late Robert James Smith and Mattie Brown Smith and widow of Grover P. Hill. She was a 1945 graduate of Great Falls High School and former co-owner and operator of Hill’s Grocery in Great Falls. She was a member of Dutch Fork Baptist Church. She is survived by her husband, Joe Smith; one son, R. Lawson Hill and his wife Angela of Montgomery, Al; one daughter, Joyce Owens and her husband Roy of Decatur, Al; two step-sons, John Smith of Irmo and Richard Smith of Lexington; one step-daughter, Susan Byerly of Irmo; sixteen grandchildren; sixteen great grandchildren; and two sisters, Elise Wilson of Lexington and Jeanette Kirkpatrick of Rockingham, NC. She was preceded in death by a daughter, Joan Monroe. Memorials may be made to Dutch Fork Baptist Church, P.O. Box 345, Ballentine, SC 29002 or to The American Cancer Society, 128 Stonemark Lane, Columbia, SC 29210. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.dantzlerbakerfuneralhome.com.