Caddo coroner honors the life of supercentenarian upon her death at 111

SHREVEPORT, La. -- The Caddo Parish Coroner's office usually deals with people and families at what is possibly the most tragic and traumatic time in their lives, when a loved one passes away from illness, violence or the passage of time.

"We try to do our work with sensitivity and reverence for the person or persons who have made the transition from our world to the next," public information officer John Andrew Prime said in a news release from Coroner Todd Thoma's office. "But at singular moments, we are reminded of the indelible mark people leave when they pass."

That happened earlier this month when Mable Caplis Smith, possibly the oldest citizen of Caddo Parish, passed away at the age of 111.

When she was born in Taylortown in Bossier Parish on April 18, 1914, Woodrow Wilson was president. The great bloodbath of the Great War, what is now called World War I, had not even yet begun.

To quote from her obituary by Washington & Smith’s Paradise Funeral Home, "Growing up during a challenging era, her life became a powerful testament to resilience, strength, and unwavering faith."

She and her late husband, Leroy Smith Sr., had only three children, but their family was fruitful and multiplied.

"Their family blossomed into five generations, encompassing 22 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren, over 136 great-great-grandchildren, and more than 22 great-great-great-grandchildren," the obituary relates.

​A member of the Living Hope of New Zion Baptist Church in Shreveport, she worked hard almost all her life, as a nanny and maid and then at P&S Hospital and what then was Confederate Memorial, now Ochsner LSU Health Hospital, as a server and line cook in the physician’s cafeteria, before retiring in 1974.

Again from her obituary: "She was affectionately known as 'Big Mama,' 'Mama Mable' and 'Mamo,' names that will forever echo in the hearts of many."

Services for Smith were Saturday at Lake Bethlehem Baptist Church on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Shreveport. Interment was in Round Grove Cemetery. Arrangements were through Washington's & Smith's Paradise Funeral Home on Barton Drive.

"Our office wishes to express its condolences to the family and friends of Mrs. Smith and asks the people of Shreveport and Caddo Parish to reflect on her life and the lives of the people who transition from our world to the next every day," Prime said in the release.