SPRINGDALE — COURTESY PHOTO Flossie Cook Smith of Springdale, center, celebrated her 105th birthday Oct. 17 with her daughters, Betty Gurley of Huntsville, and Billie Clark of Springdale, and other family members.
She was born in Madison County on Oct. 19, 1905, to Charlie and Dollie Logan Cook. She started her teaching career at age 18, before graduating from high school, by taking a state exam for a teaching certificate.
She rode her horse about five miles each way over a rugged mountain from her home at Little Chapel to Burk school her first year of teaching. Burk was a one-room school with eight grades and 31 students. The following year, 1924, she returned to Kingston to finish her last two years of high school, graduating in 1926.
She returned to teaching in one-room schools, all near Kingston, and finished her teaching career at Kingston schools, retiring in 1967 and moving to Springdale with her husband, Orden Smith, whom she married March 1, 1933. She was widowed in March 1990. She was active at Phillips Chapel Free Will Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday and Bible school classes for many years. She now resides at Shiloh Health and Rehab in Springdale. She has five grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and four greatgreat-grandchildren.
Our Town, Pages 16 on 10/24/2010