Mary Smith was born in Hughes, Arkansas to Archie and Mary Beckner Smith on February 22, 1936

and passed on November 14, 2017 at Marymount Hospital in Garfield Heights, Ohio. She was the 

youngest of fifteen siblings, all of whom predeceased her; the eldest: Octavia being the only other girl.      

She is survived by her four children: Darlene Harris Hickerson, James Clarence Sharp Jr., Violet Renee 

Sharp Welch and Juan Rafael Harris, as well as by 10 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 

6 great-great-grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends who treasured 

her easy humor and deep wisdom. 

She married Chester Harris in 1951 and moved with him to St. Louis. Following their divorce, she moved to

Cleveland, where one of her brothers lived, and met and married James Sharp in 1956. Again single, she

began a relationship with Robert Lockwood Jr., a world-renowned guitarist, with whom she fulfilled her

lifelong dream to travel the world. They married in 1996 and he passed in 2006.

 

With Alice, she first met Mr. Lockwood in front of a restaurant where he was hanging with Sonny Boy Williamson

and said out loud that they looked "mean and evil." She did not get to know him well then, but, among her and Alice's 

friends were other musicians including Willie Johnson, James Cotton and Junior Parker who she once described as her

first boyfriend, later saying: "Junior was crazy about me, but, you know, I couldn't be a fast girl." She and Alice listened to 

Memphis stations WDIA and WHBQ where B.B. King and Parker respectively had shows and attended Memphis clubs 

including Mitchell's and Club Paradise, and The Blackfish in Blackfish, Arkansas where they first met Cotton. 

 

Her favorite song was "C.C. Rider".  Her favorite show was "Law and Order". 

Her favorite candy was a York Peppermint Pattie.  Her favorite drink was Pepsi.

 

Her beautiful unique features owed much to her strong percentage of Native American heritage.