Mrs. Katherine Bishop Oxford

Katherine Bishop Oxford died September 5, 2011 in Augusta.

Born Katherine Sherwood Bishop in Richmond, Va. on August 14, 1915, she spent her early childhood in Wilson, N.C., until her family moved to Augusta. She has been a Georgia resident since that time. An excellent student, she graduated from Tubman High School and Augusta Junior College and received her BA degree in mathematics from Agnes Scott College in Decatur in 1936. Like many of her generation, Mrs. Oxford was the first member of her family to attend college.

Mrs. Oxford taught in the Atlanta school system before her marriage in 1938 to Dr. William Alvin Smith, Jr., a dentist whose practice was in Camilla. Throughout her 42 years in Camilla, she and her family were active members of First Baptist Church of Camilla. She served as organist, interim choir director and in leadership positions in Sunday school and the Missionary Society. After her children were older, she returned to teaching at both Mitchell County High School and Pelham High School. She also worked as an assistant librarian in the DeSoto Trail Regional Library.

She married Joseph Allen Oxford in 1976. Upon his retirement as managing vice-president of Pelham Phosphate Co., they moved to Augusta and placed their church membership in First Baptist Church Augusta. She continued to use her musical talent in Sunday school and various outreaches of the church.

Mrs. Oxford’s life was a witness to her complete faith in Christ and her love for God’s Word. She will be remembered for her love of family, her sweet spirit, her sense of humor and the kindness she so graciously lavished on all–-friends and strangers alike. She was an accomplished cook, pianist and organist, artist, and in her younger years quite an athlete. She loved bridge, Scrabble, and crossword puzzles–the harder the better.

Mrs. Oxford loved to dance, and, in fact, at age 91, competed in “Dancing with the Stars” at Brandon Wilde, her home for the last few years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Hattie Finch Bishop and William Jackson Bishop, her sister, Mary Frances Bishop Bass, her husbands, William Alvin Smith, Jr. and Joseph Allen Oxford and her stepson, James Allen Oxford.

Survivors include her three sons, William Stuart Smith and his wife Gail of Augusta, Stephen Bishop Smith and his wife Joan of Dallas, Texas, and William Alvan Smith III and his wife Lee of Atlanta, sister Marguerite Bishop Paschal, 11 grandchildren, Bradford Stuart Smith, Holly Elizabeth Smith Kitchens and her husband Carlton, Benjamin Todd Smith, Rebecca Lauren Smith, Thad Frensley Smith and his wife Sarah, Stacey Elaine Smith Beck and her husband Charlie, Blythe Bishop Smith Koch and her husband Adam, Blake Sundberg Smith, Claire Sherwood Smith, Cameron Bishop Smith, and Haley Elizabeth Smith, and eight great-grandchildren.

The family wishes to give special thanks to the staff at Brandon Wilde and to Katherine’s caregivers, Kwajalein Drayton, Ida Green, Natassia Page, Sheila Rozier, Rosa Shipman, Lorraine Smalls, Regina White, and most especially Betty Hammond whose love, dedication, and friendship will be forever remembered.

Funeral services were held on Friday, Sept. 9, in the chapel of First Baptist Church Augusta with a reception following the service. Burial was in West View Cemetery in Monticello, beside her husband, Joseph Allen Oxford.

Pallbearers were her five grandsons and three grandsons-in-law.

Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church Augusta, 3500 Walton Way, Augusta, Ga. 30909 or Ugandan American Partnership Organization, www.theuapo.org or the charity of your choice.

Sign the guestbook and send condolences at www.plattsfuneral home.com.