Elizabeth Darvill Smith

Elizabeth Darvill (Betty) Smith of Madison passed away March 4, 2022, after a series of illnesses. She died peacefully at St Dominic's Hospital with her husband and daughter at her side. 

She donated her organs to science and will be buried in Parkway Memorial Cemetery, Jackson, Mississippi. 

Betty was born to Emma and Edward Darvill on July 11 1938, in Nutley, New Jersey, and was a member of the Methodist Church. She attended Syracuse University on a full scholarship and was an esteemed member of the famed Chapel Choir. Betty graduated with a BFA degree in 1960, and married Bill Smith, her husband for 61 years. 

The new household moved to Auburn, Alabama, where she joined the faculty of the Auburn University Department of Art. Later she illustrated the well-known Auburn Cookbook and other publications of the University. Their move to Washington, DC, brought her awards in magazine cover design and advertisment illustrations in the Washington Post. Betty continued media illustrations when the family moved to Jackson, Mississippi in 1966, with a shift in interest to showing her two Whippets to their national championship. This led to her entrepreneurship in the pet store business, an adventure that grew into her establishment of Mississippi's first marine tropical fish pet business, which she named The Fish Bowl. 

She was a successful real estate broker, and also winner of the Jackson Yacht Club Cruising Class Regatta. Elizabeth Darvill (Betty) 

Smith is survived by her loving husband, Bill, her daughter, Tracey Smith Eco, and her granddaughter, Claudia Elizabeth Eco.