Funeral services for Jo Mary Tettleton Martin Smith, 80, will be held at 10:00 A.M., Saturday, February 12, 2022 in the chapel of Kilpatrick Funeral Home ~ Monroe. Dr. Michael Holloway will officiate and interment will follow at Farmerville City Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M., Friday, February 11, 2022 at Kilpatrick Funeral Home ~ Monroe.

Jo Mary was born in Farmerville, Louisiana on May 9, 1941.  She grew up in Farmerville and graduated from Farmerville High School in May of 1959.  While attending school she was in the band from the 5^th through the 12^thgrades.  Jo Mary was a majorette from the 9^th through the 12^th grades, and always attended band camps at Arkansas A & M (Monticello, Arkansas) and Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana.  She later attended Northeast Louisiana College (NLU/ULM) in Monroe, Louisiana.  Jo Mary was honored to be in the first majorette line in the history of the college in fall of 1959.  She was a member of Phi Mu sorority and served as treasurer.  Jo Mary graduated college August 1962 in Elementary Education and began teaching at Sherrouse Elementary School in Monroe, Louisiana.  She married Leon Martin and moved to Bastrop, Louisiana, where she was a member of First Baptist Church. Jo Mary taught at Oak Hill, Westside and Prairie View Academy schools in Bastrop, Louisiana.

After relocating and living/teaching briefly in Panama City, Florida, she returned to Farmerville, Louisiana and eventually met and married M.L. Smith, Jr. in July of 1975.  They resided in Bastrop, Louisiana until relocating to Ruston, Louisiana in 1984.  Jo Mary moved back to Monroe, Louisiana in 1997, where she presently lived.  She eventually met her friend and longtime companion Steve Tassin with whom she enjoyed many good times and made memories for some 21 years.

Jo Mary loves the Lord Jesus Christ and is a born-again Christian.

She was involved in the Monroe Garden Club, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Uptown Ladies luncheon group.  Her hobbies and interests throughout life included teaching, travel, dancing, music, singing, bowling, Saints football, piano, and eating out/socializing with her many friends & family, young and old.  Jo Mary loved life, never met a stranger, and lived life to the absolute fullest until she couldn’t anymore.  Her lovingly given nicknames were Granny Jo and “Go” Mary.  Although she lived and carried on mostly unaffected after her diagnosis some two years ago, after an abrupt roughly two-month decline she succumbed to acute myeloid leukemia at her home in Monroe where she was not alone. But Jo Mary is remembered for how she lived, not how she died.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Orville & Girlton Tettleton, grandparents Monroe & Lita Mae Tettletonand Jesse& Mae Odom, brothers Zeke Tettleton & Robert Lynn Tettleton, sister-in-law Kathy Tettleton, wife of brother Danny Tettleton, and mother-in-law Lena Wells.

Jo Mary is survived by her son Scott L. Martin & wife Paula Martin; grandson, Logan Scott Martin; brother, Danny Tettleton and wife Sherry; sister-in-laws, Bettye Tettleton (Zeke) and Mary Sue Tettleton (Robert); step-daughter, Stephanie Smith; step-son, Steve Smith & wife Becky; numerous nieces and nephews, many friends, and her dear friend & companion, Steve Tassin.

Pallbearers will be Tim Tettleton, Jason Tiser, Max Williams, Duane Humphries, Todd Newman and Phillip Strickland.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.