Joan Smith

JOAN SMITH - Joan McGahey Smith, age 90, of Columbus, MS, passed away November 28, 2025, at Trinity Healthcare.  Funeral services will be Monday, December 1, 2025, at 1:00 PM at Memorial Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Danny Avery officiating.  The interment will immediately follow at Beersheba Cemetery.  Visitation will be from 12:00 PM until the time of the service at Memorial Funeral Home & Crematory.

     Mrs. Smith was born July 15, 1935, in Columbus, MS, to the late Easley and Viola Basinger McGahey.  She was a graduate of S. D. Lee High School and attended MSCW and the University of Alabama Nursing School.  She was a former member of First Baptist Church of Columbus and a current member of the Pinson, AL, First Baptist Church.  Mrs. Smith worked in the judicial system and in healthcare.  In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers, Travis McGahey, Marvin McGahey, Eugene McGahey and C. W. McGahey, and sister, Virginia Leigh.

     Survivors include her son, Bruce Neal of Columbus, MS, daughter, Lesa Dotman of Pinson, AL, grandchildren, Lance Dotman and his wife Haleigh of Cleveland, AL, Sarah Frances McCullough and her husband Hunter of Madison, AL, and Josh Neal of Caledonia, MS, great grandchildren, Lilly Grace Dotman, James Michael Dotman, and Wyatt Doss McCullough, and special loved ones, Debra Neal, and Sandra Leigh.

     Pallbearers will be Lance Dotman, Josh Neal, Hunter McCullough, Zac Jiambrone, Reggie Swan, and Bruce Neal.

     Memorials may be made to Trinity Place Retirement Community, 300 Airline Rd., Columbus, MS, 39702.  The family would like to express their thanks and appreciation to Dorothy Baitey, Maxine Allen, Jessi Miller, LaWanda Coleman, and the staff and nurses of Trinity Healthcare.