Joy Bogan Smith

Joy Dell Bogan Smith passed away quietly in Hill Country Care Nursing & Senior Living Facility in Dripping Springs, Texas on August 17, 2021.

Joy was born on July 12, 1949 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Joy was well traveled and grew up living her younger years in several cities including Shreveport, Texarkana, Houston, New Providence(NJ),Tulsa, Mishawaka(IN) and New Orleans. She graduated from High School at St. Martin’s Episcopal School of New Orleans in 1967. She attended LSU as a Music Major and a vocalist with great talent and ambition. Joy also attended classes at Tulane in New Orleans for Voice and Theater, as well as Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Her professional years were spent in New York and London with TWA as a fluent French speaking stewardess. When she retired from flying, she moved to Los Angeles where she raised her family and worked with Rocketdyne as Programmer for the Space Station. She was recognized for design, security and management of a groundbreaking Space Station WP4 EDMS system. Joy earned her bachelor’s degree at Cal State Northridge in communications. Joy was awarded a fellowship in the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering for security, network and system design at Boeing where she was the lead Project Manager for corporate Security, which included processes and training on all corporate systems. She later went back to New Orleans with Capital One and then moved to Austin as a Consultant with Dell.

Joy’s friend Norm Garr said, “My first encounter with Joy was as a telephone volunteer for a pledge drive at radio station KCSN on the campus of California State University Northridge. This was my exposure to Joy’s love of music and giving back to the community.” She loved singing and was an active member of the WELSH CHOIR of Los Angeles attending weekly rehearsals every Sunday afternoon, in addition to singing in the choir at a local church in the West Valley. When she moved to Austin, she continued to participate in choirs at different churches until she finally found a home at St. Richards in Round Rock. There is no doubt this Angel will be welcomed into God’s heavenly choir … the ultimate choir! Joy’s last Choir Director, Brad Hester, wrote when hearing the news of her passing, “There’s comfort knowing Joy is walking the streets of gold, unfettered by the fog of Alzheimers.” Joy lived up to her name by being joyous no matter how tough her challenges became. The trials and tribulations of Dementia were no different. She lived an unselfish and joyous life and her presence will be missed by the many whose lives she touched with that “joy.”

Joy was preceded in death by her spouse, William Langsdale Smith of London, England who traveled throughout the world with her. She was also preceded in death by her parents, James Durwood Bogan (Coushatta, La.) and Lucye Mullins Bogan (Atlanta, Georgia); and grandparents Franklin Oliver Mullins and Essie Dunbar Mullins (Atlanta, Georgia), Susie Loftin Bogan and James Odis Bogan (Coushatta, La.)

She is survived by her loving and talented son James William Smith of Kauai, Hawaii, where her remains will rest. She is also survived by sisters, Suzanne Bogan McCord of Wimberley, Texas; and Marian “Bootsie” Bogan Bebeau of New Orleans, Louisiana, as well as brother-in-laws, Charles T. McCord III and Samuel P. Bebeau, nieces and nephews, Charles T. McCord IV, of Houston, Samuel P. Bebeau Jr. and Elizabeth McCord Welp of Austin, and two first cousins, Ruby Ruth Douglas Neely and Junial Duncan Douglas, Jr.

Joy would be honored by donations to the St. Richards Episcopal Church Choir, 1420 E. Palm Valley Blvd., Round Rock, Texas 78664. The family would also like to thank the amazing caregivers at St. Gabriel’s Hospice of Austin with memorial donations to The National Hospice Foundation, 1731 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. With gratitude for the loving staff of the Hill Country Care Center, the family would also like to thank everyone there with a donation to the Friends Foundation, P.O. Box 8, Dripping Springs, Texas 78620 (thefriendsfoundation.org).