Mary Lee Lemons was born in Stoneville, N.C. on November 30, 1908 to Rose Lemons. She had a brother, Walter Lemons.
She met Charles Edward Smith while in Stoneville and the two married in 1927. They went on to have nine children, eight of whom lived to adulthood. They lived in many places in North Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia. They later made their home in Ridgeway, Va. Mary Smith was a homemaker while her husband worked in various jobs including coal mining and later furniture making.
For a few years, they lived on what is known as the Price Farm in Martinsville. While there, Mary Smith started going to church at Fontaine Baptist, just down the road. She was later baptized at a church in Martinsville.
She became a member of Highland Baptist Church where she went faithfully for 26 years. Upon the retirement of Pastor Duffy Westmoreland and the subsequent splitting of the church, she followed the new pastor to a store in a strip mall. This was the beginning of Victory Baptist Church which she attended for several years. Not long after the church celebrated its new building in Fieldale, the church would split again. Mary Smith once again decided to follow the pastor, moving with the church to a building in Collinsville. This was the beginning of Freedom Baptist Church.
She was a faithful member of the church for many years until health problems kept her from attending, but she enjoyed the company of church members and watching the sermons on television. She also loved Christmas time when a church bus would pull up in front of the house full of Christmas carolers.
