Emilie Louise Smith Pickens 

Family and friends reminisce a life and genuine legacy at the passing of their loved one. Emilie Louise Smith Pickens died Tuesday morning at her home in Athens. 

She was born Dec. 19, 1900, in Sommerville to Amos Martin and Mattie B. Bartese Smith. At the age of six, she and her family moved to Little Rock, Ark., where she lived until she married Johnnie Prince Pickens on Sept. 4, 1923. After the wedding ceremony, they drove to Athens to make their home. 

Mrs. Pickens was a homemaker and a member of the St. Matthias Episcopal Church. She was one of the 10 Athenians who answered a newspaper ad in 1946 regarding the information on an Episcopal church in Athens. 

On Feb. 25, 1946, the first Anglican service was held in Athens, due in part to her desire and initiative. 

A longtime member of the Athens Daniel McMahon chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Pickens was honored in 1989 as one of only six members of that organization to hold membership over 50 years. 

Mrs. Pickens is preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Johnnie Prince Pickens and by her oldest son, Martin Davis "Sonny" Pickens. 

She is survived by one son, John Prince Pickens of Sedona, Ariz.; one grandson, Joe Prince Pickens of Mabank; one granddaughter, Marta Kae Pickens Harvey of Boerne; two great-grandsons; and two great-granddaughters. 

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Chapel of Foster & Brown Funeral Home with internment at Athens Cemetery. 

Pallbearers will be Leroy Barton, Mack Wallace, Neil Hunter, Don Wylie, Lannie Godwin, Dick Dwelle, Joe Fitzgerald. 

The family will receive friends at the funeral home Wednesday evening from 6-8.