Sister Charlotte Smith, CSJ

(S. Mary Charlotte)
July 11, 1924 - January 25, 2020

A generous woman dedicated to teaching and family

Dorothy Smith was born to parents Charles and Edna (Watkins) Smith of Augusta, Georgia, on July 11, 1924.1924. Dorothy and her parents were Baptists. Her dad, an electrician, was in charge of the lighting effects during halftime at a school football game. While he was working, a Jesuit priest attending the game came up to him with a lot of questions about how it all worked. During their conversation, the priest invited him to come see his church and find out something about the Catholic faith. Dorothy’s mother was not interested at first, but, eventually, the three of them began instructions and were baptized at Sacred Heart Church in Augusta.

Dorothy was 14 when her sister Sarah was born. Following Dorothy’s freshman year at the public school, she transferred to Mount St. Joseph High in Augusta, staffed by Sisters of Joseph.

On September 13, 1941, Dorothy entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in Augusta. She received the habit and the name Sister Mary Charlotte on March 19, 1942. The College of St. Rose in New York awarded her a bachelor’s degree in education. While there, she also studied some Spanish and art. Her master’s in education was earned at St. Louis University in St. Louis. While there, she studied Spanish with our first sisters going to Peru.

Her ministry began in elementary education in Georgia, first in Washington at St. Joseph Male Orphanage (1944). This was followed by St. John the Evangelist, Valdosta (1945); St. Anthony, Atlanta (1950); Sacred Heart, Milledgeville (1951); Sacred Heart, Savannah (1953); St. Joseph, Marietta (1956) and St. Anthony, Atlanta (1958). Sister Charlotte then taught secondary education at St. Joseph, Atlanta (1960); St. Joseph Academy, Green Bay, Wisconsin (1968) and Aquinas High, Augusta (1977).

S. Charlotte Smith was in Green Bay when three of us celebrated our 25th jubilee in 1971. She organized the meal seating in the school cafeteria so that adults of each family had a table, teenagers of all families were together, and younger children were at a table with sisters attending to their needs. Everyone could relax and enjoy themselves. S. Charlotte was a happy, generous person. —S. Ruth Burkart

Sister Judith Miller also lived with S. Charlotte at St. Joseph Academy:

She was always very community minded and witty, and willing to do something for fun. What I remember most … her total dismay and disbelief at all the snow in Green Bay. The piles were up past her waist. She couldn't believe anyone could possibly enjoy all that snow.

When her mother became ill in 1968, S. Charlotte began a long period of family care. She took her mother to North Miami, Florida, to help her sister care for her in her home. After her mother died in 2000, her sister and her husband eventually moved to North Augusta, South Carolina. Sandra and her husband built a new home there, but he died about a year later. S. Charlotte and her sister lived together in North Augusta until S. Charlotte was admitted to NHC Healthcare and Rehab there in 2014.

When I went to Mississippi, we 'southerners' communicated a bit and when I asked for help with the people there, S. Charlotte and her sister responded—one time sending many things they had found in a trunk. She was mission-minded to the end. —S. Donna Gunn

I knew her as a sweet, yet, determined person. I don't know if she ever got angry, but I never saw it if she did. She was extremely gracious for any little thing you would do for her … She and her sister Sandra were devoted to each other …—S. Fran Voivedich

Her funeral Mass was held on Jan. 29 at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in North August, South Carolina.

By Sister Helen Oates