LaRita Mary Smith (Mixon) February 29, 1924 - June 20, 2024 LaRita Smith was the first born of schoolteachers Laura Lee Ross Smith and William Clifton Smith. She was born in Piney Woods, MS at the home of her grandparents, Mary Ellen Ross Hartzog and Hugh Ross. LaRita celebrated her 25th birthday (100th year) on Leap Day this year. She was one of nine children who have maintained close bonds throughout their lives. Graduating from Jackson’s Central High School in 1941, LaRita’s career took her from telephone long-distance operator to the Pentagon, to photojournalist at the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate and Winn Parish Enterprise (LA) among other newspapers. In 1949 she married J.C. Mixon of Winnfield, LA, a marriage that lasted 20 years. They started a family in east Texas, and in 1957 she and her two children joined J.C. in Amuay Bay, Venezuela. As her family grew to 3 children, she continued her art by sketching and painting coastal and desert villages, people, and landscapes, and her journalism by serving as the editor of the refinery's weekly newspaper. She returned to the US in 1962 with her family and settled in New Orleans for the next 25 years. LaRita earned degrees in Journalism, Economics and Fine Arts, then settled on the life of an artist. She studied under and collaborated with, Ida Kohlmeyer, Dick Phillips, and other notable artists. Her art showings In New Orleans include the Contemporary Arts Center, the Orleans Gallery, New Orleans public and university libraries, and other galleries around town. She kept a studio on Magazine Street, and for a period joined the street artists around Jackson Square painting portraits and caricatures for tourists. Later she opened a gallery in Madison, MS, and continued to create watercolor portraits and landscapes and sculptures. She also produced films for public television. In 2011 in Jackson, she filled the Center for Art on Lamar Street with her 87-Year Retrospective Exhibit. Her home on Old Canton Road, “Atelier LaRita", was an art studio and gallery where she welcomed all passersby, siblings, nieces and nephews, friends, and collectors of her art for many years. Her backyard was a sculpture garden made from found and recycled objects. In 2003 she traveled to Baghdad, Iraq as a journalist with a strong anti-war perspective. She wrote emails until the internet went down, and collected film footage, most of which was confiscated as she left Iraq. She filmed the Shock and Awe campaign and the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein. See SaferInBaghdad.com. She traveled much of the United States and five of the seven continents. As an artist, she captured the world in her remarkable and evolving style including paintings, collages, sculptures, photographs, installations, films, writings, and audiovisual productions that inform, entertain, challenge, thrill, and instruct. In 2019 she joined her daughter Martha in Maine. She spent her last years at Sedgewood Commons nursing home. The family is forever grateful to LaRita’s caregivers at Sedgewood Commons who endured the hardships of Covid, staffing shortages, blizzards and ice storms, to provide superb and loving care. LaRita is survived by her children, Richard (Donna), Martha, and Claude (Judy); by five grandchildren, Karin Roland (Lori Brown), Elin Letourneau (Zebadiah), Nelson Mixon (Jovanna), Clifton Mixon, and Steven Mixon; by 6 of her 8 brothers and sisters, Daphna Shaw of South Lyon, MI; Jacqueline Pierce of Ridgeland MS; Sarah Sheffield of Sparks, MD; Laura Leavitt of Ridgeland, MS; Perrin Smith (Bertha Jane) of Columbus, MS; and Russell Smith (Martha Ann) of Madison, MS; and by many loving nieces and nephews, and other extended family members. LaRita was predeceased by her parents and her brothers William Clifton Smith II, and George Virgil Smith. LaRita made dear friends through her art and travels, keeping in touch with most of them. She was a recognized part of the Jackson art community, with countless close friends and admirers. A memorial service will be held at the Natchez Trace Funeral Home, 759 Highway 51, Madison, MS on August 10, 2024. Visitation will be from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm with a chapel service at 12:00 pm. Interment to follow in Natchez Trace Memorial Park. To post a tribute and see more, go to the obituary page at Natchez Trace Funeral Home website. Consider a donation in LaRita’s memory to the Mississippi Museum of Art. Photo credit: James Patterson