Mary "Junie" Smith, ex-Farmers Branch council member who survived 1967 plane crash, dies at 73

Smith, 73, died Friday in her sleep at William Clements Jr. University Hospital in Dallas.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at North Dallas Funeral Home, 2710 Valley View Lane in Farmers Branch. Services will be at the funeral home at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Burial will be at Keenan Cemetery in Farmers Branch.

Smith was active in Farmers Branch community service for years. She was a member of the zoning board for 15 years and, in 2003, was elected to one term on the council. She also served two terms on the Dallas County grand jury.

In 2014, she recalled becoming party to the lawsuit challenging the controversial rental ordinance.

"I have a strong feeling that what they were doing was wrong — pushing out the Hispanics," she said. "They were after the Hispanics, and that is wrong. If the apartment people and I had not stood up, all these people would have to move."

Smith graduated from both the city's police and fire citizen academies.

"She really loved hanging out with the police and firemen," said her son, Brian Smith of Carrollton.

Born in Pittsburgh, Smith's given name was Mary Rita Miller. She grew up in Kansas City, Mo., where she graduated from St. Teresa's Academy. In 1965, she earned a bachelor's degree from St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Ind., and was married in Dallas to John Murphy, a Navy ensign.

Seven days before her second wedding anniversary, she and then Lt. Murphy were aboard the TWA flight from Los Angeles to Cincinnati. She was six months pregnant with their first child.

The crash left Smith in a coma for a week. She awoke on what would have been the couple's anniversary — and what also was Murphy's burial date. Smith miscarried just weeks later.

After the crash, Smith moved to Dallas, where her parents, John and Rita Miller, were living at the time. In 1969, she married Bob Smith. The couple had one child, and they divorced in 1975.

In 1978, Smith earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. She held administrative roles in several doctor's offices.

"She had an interest in medicine, but she never really practiced," her son said.

In 1983, Smith and her son moved to Farmers Branch. She briefly worked as a Realtor, but she left the profession later that decade after a real estate recession.

Years after the TWA tragedy, questions and feelings surfaced.

In 1985, after the crash of Delta Flight 191 at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport that killed 137 people, she recalled in an interview with The Dallas Morning News the moment several years earlier when she was suddenly overcome by emotions from the 1967 crash. While celebrating a real estate transaction, she burst into tears for no apparent reason. Then she began to have nightmares.

For years, people had discouraged her from talking about the 1967 tragedy. But now she wanted to know more about what happened.

With treatment she was able to move on with her life.

"She was at peace with what happened," her son said.

In addition to her son, Smith is survived by a grandson.