Betty Smith

(From Parker Mortuary)

Betty J. Smith, age 96 of Joplin, Missouri, passed away peacefully with family and friend by her side on Thursday, April 10, 2025 following a short illness. Betty was born April 5, 1929 in Ash Grove, Missouri to the late Ernie and Pansy England Reaves.

Smith attended school in Joplin when education was segregated. She was valedictorian of her class at Lincoln School, where Joplin’s Black youths were educated until 1956 when the school was closed for integration of all students into the Joplin School District. She received special recognition from the Joplin School District in 2021 when she was selected as grand marshal of the Joplin High School homecoming parade.

For at least seven decades, she encouraged the correction of problems in the community by using information, communication and requests for everyone “to do right by each other.”

One of those efforts by Smith and Reaves was to see that Parkway Cemetery, the city’s Black cemetery established during segregation, was cleaned, repaired and maintained in the same manner as other city-owned cemeteries.

As part of her effort to document the history of Joplin and the East Town neighborhood, she made handmade posters that showcased the stories of Joplin’s Black-owned businesses dating from the 1930s. Several panels featured photos or programs from Lincoln School and from the city’s historically Black churches.

Those displays include laminated copies of five issues of Joplin Uplift, a Black-owned newspaper that was published in the late 1920s from offices at Broadway and Michigan. The newspaper printed church and city news as well as a social page that discussed the comings and goings of local residents.

Smith and her sister also were activists along with others. In the 1960s, they banded together to prevent the construction of a machine plant in East Town, where many Black residents lived.

“We were having enough problems. We didn’t want any more noise and dirt — you couldn’t even hang your clothes out,” Smith said several years ago in recounting that time. “We worked against it, the Globe covered it, and we got it stopped.” That site for the proposed foundry later became the first office of the Joplin Housing Authority because of the work to bring affordable housing to the city by Smith and her husband, William Smith.

In recent years, Smith contributed her efforts on the city’s Celebrations Commission, which planned and endorsed events for Missouri’s bicentennial in 2021 and Joplin’s sesquicentennial in 2023.

Jill Halbach, chairman of Joplin’s Historic Preservation Commission, recognized Smith with a lifetime achievement award. It was presented July 28, 2022. Halbach said the July 28 date was the anniversary of the first platting of Joplin city, which now is known as the East Town community, where Smith lived.

Community historian Brad Belk also recognized Smith at that time, saying one component of Joplin’s 150th anniversary celebration was to honor special people, places and events that made Joplin the city it has become.

“Through the years, our community has been blessed with great citizens, and Betty Smith, you are one of those great residents,” Belk told her.

Smith had been a member of Unity Missionary Baptist Church and a Sunday school and vacation Bible school teacher for 85 years. She had participated in the Joplin NAACP, worked at the Minnie Hackney Community Service Center, Satellite Club, PTA, Homemakers’ Club and the city’s 150th Celebrations Commission during her many years.

She also was a regular guest columnist in The Joplin Globe and was recognized as a Joplin Magazine Pathfinder.

Other than her parents, Betty is preceded in death by her husband, William L. Smith, Sr. who was active in the Joplin Housing Authority, specifically, Murphy Mannor. He was the first African-American appointed to such a position within the city of Joplin. William passed away in 2017; son, William Smith, Jr.; brothers, Hylas Reaves, Harry Reaves, Sr., and William Reaves, Sr.; sister, Susie Reaves and Josephine Reaves.







She is survived by a son, Greggory Smith of Lancaster, California; 6 grandchildren, Neacia Kayle, Alicia Smith, Brittany Farris and husband, Danny, Janelle Johnson, Tony and Tonia Burton; 4 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren; numerous nieces, nephews and many cousins.

Funeral services are planned for Thursday, April 24, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at Unity Missionary Baptist Church in Joplin with burial to follow at Parkway Cemetery in Joplin. Visitation of family and friends will be Wednesday, April 23rd from 5:00 – 7:00 pm at the Parker Mortuary Chapel.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Parker Mortuary, Joplin, Missouri.