CAROL BURNS SMELLEY,

died June 12, 2023. She was born August 14, 1935, to Eva Sue Sutherland Burns and Joseph Lowry Burns in Jonesboro, Ark. Carol was the youngest of three children and is preceded in death by brother, Larry Burns; and sister, Ann Burns Smith. In her youth, Carol was very active in the First Baptist Church, Jonesboro, Ark. She was strongly influenced by assisting her mother, who volunteered in settlement houses, serving the poor and homeless. During WWII, with her father’s help, she became a “Tin Can Colonel” for collecting and recycling tin cans to support the war effort, a story she would tell for many years as an adult. Carol graduated from high school early and matriculated to Baylor University, graduating at the age of 19. Subsequently, she taught school in Bay, Ark., for a year, then sought admission to the Graduate School of Social Work at Columbia University in New York City. The admissions committee, underestimating her determination and drive, told her to get more life experience and apply again when she was older. Carol then became the Director of the Baptist Student Union at Arkansas State University in the early 1960s, serving students who were usually her age or older. She reapplied to Columbia University and achieved her Master’s of Social Work. These years in New York were deeply influential in her life. There, she learned about adolescent residential treatment for emotionally disturbed adolescents, one of her long-term callings. In New York, she became close friends with Marguerite Schneck Burgin, also in her program, whom Carol would eventually recruit to work with her in Little Rock. Upon returning to Arkansas, she was appointed to be the first professionally trained superintendent of the Arkansas Girls Training School in Alexander, Ark. There, she realized that incarcerating adolescents with behavioral problems only made the situation worse. Carol began to plan for a private, non-profit treatment program, which became known as Youth Home, and which opened its doors in 1968. Initially, Carol did virtually all of the jobs, including being the director, the fund raiser, the therapist, etc. With the help of generous donors and multitudes of volunteers, what began as a residential program for five adolescents is now a thriving, multifaceted behavioral treatment program, serving hundreds of adolescents a year. While working at the Girls Training School, she met T. Wesley (Wes) Smelley. They were married in 1967. Wes became her most active volunteer, including helping find runaway girls, tending her rose beds and delivering countless rose bouquets to friends, the sick, and the bereaved. After “retiring” from Youth Home in the late 1990s, Carol started the Oasis Renewal Center, a non-denominational center for prayer, meditation, teaching, and renewal in West Little Rock. Carol and the Oasis again touched countless lives for a decade before she left the Oasis and started a private psychotherapy practice, which she continued until her illness would not allow her to continue. Carol was known for many things, including being a 30+ year Sunday School teacher for young married couples at her beloved Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, for her Pomeranian dogs, which were constantly with her, for hosting an incredible number of functions and meals at her home, for being strong willed and persistent, and for great love and devotion to her family. Carol is survived by numerous lifelong friends, newer friends whom she has mentored and assisted, and her remaining family: nieces, Elaine Moctezuma Burns (Pedro Moctezuma) and Suzanne Mobley; three nephews: G. Richard Smith (Susan Sims Smith), Michael Sutherland Smith, and Joe Stuck Burns, five grandnieces/ grandnephews: Tlaloc Moctezuma, Olin Moctezuma, Lili Hamlyn, Reuben Hamlyn, and Rose C. Smith; and great-grandnephew, Desmond; as well as her cousin, Martha Saunders. The family is indebted to all of the caregivers, nurses, doctors, and other professionals, who provided loving care for Carol during her protracted illness. Memorials may be made to Youth Home, the Arkansas House of Prayer, or the charity of your choice.

A visitation will be held at Ruebel Funeral Home from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, July 6. The funeral will be on Friday, July 7, at 10 a.m. at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church. The interment will be at the Columbarium at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church following the reception after the funeral. Please make donations in her name to Arkansas House of Prayer, PO Box 7450, Little Rock, Ark., 72217, or Youth Home, 20400 Colonel Glenn Rd., Little Rock, Ark., 72210. Arrangements are under the direction of RuebelFuneralHome.com.