Ima Mae Smith: First Lady of Texas and Advocate for Mental Health (1911–1998)

Ima Mae Smith, First Lady of Texas, was born to Walter Jefferson Smith and Laura Mable (Wood) Smith in Perrin, Jack County, Texas, on October 20, 1911. The 1930 census recorded the family in Crosby County, where her father was a farmer. She graduated from Ralls High School in 1930 before attending Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University). After graduating with a teaching certificate in 1933, she taught elementary school for two years in Farmer, Texas, in Crosby County. At Texas Tech, in a government course where she was seated alphabetically, she had met an ambitious classmate Preston Smith. On June 20, 1935, the two married in Ima’s hometown of Ralls, and made their home in nearby Lubbock.

Shortly after their wedding, the couple found themselves in dire straits after Preston was put out of work as the manager of a service station in Lubbock. He began building a theater with a college friend, and their wives sold tickets at the new theater located across from the Texas Tech campus. The Smiths welcomed their first child Preston Michael “Mickey” in December 1940. In 1944 Preston Smith ran as a Democrat representing District 119 for the Texas House of Representatives. Ima Smith was active on the campaign trail, although she preferred to work behind the scenes rather than making speeches on behalf of her husband. While Preston was in Austin during legislative sessions, Ima remained at their home in Lubbock. In February 1945 during Preston’s first session, he was unable to make it back home in time to drive Ima to the hospital before she gave birth to their daughter Jan Lauren.

Despite residing primarily in Lubbock, Ima became deeply involved with the Texas State House of Representatives Wives Club and Texas State Senate Ladies Club during Preston’s time in the legislature. She was an active member of the Lubbock Women’s Club, Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority, and St. John’s United Methodist Church as well. Following Preston’s election as lieutenant governor, the family was provided with an official apartment in the state Capitol building. However, Ima still maintained the family home in Lubbock.

After her husband was elected governor in 1968, Ima Smith moved to Austin full-time to live in the Governor’s Mansion. She was particularly interested in the history of her new home and highlighted many of the mansion’s features and furnishings in the first brochure about the residence made available to tourists. Among the treasures she found was a grandfather clock owned by Napoleon Bonaparte that had been donated to the state by Blanche Harding Sewall of Houston. She had the clock appraised and sent it to the prison workshop in Huntsville for restoration before displaying it in the Governor’s Mansion. The Smiths welcomed approximately three times as many visitors to the mansion as any previous administration. During her husband’s tenure as governor, Ima championed improvements in conditions at state prisons and mental institutions while promoting the construction of the Lubbock State School for individuals with mental illness. As First Lady, she personally volunteered to work with those battling mental illness.

Both Preston and Ima Smith were proud of their alma mater, Texas Tech, and they were recognized as distinguished alumni in 1969. Ima Smith was the first woman to receive this award, and the university also named a new strain of chrysanthemums developed by researchers at the school the “Ima Smith Mum” in her honor. The Smiths remained active supporters of the university; their lasting commitment is still reflected in their endowment of the Texas Tech University Graduate Scholarship supporting students researching topics unique to West Texas.

After a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, Ima Mae Smith died at the age of eighty-six at her home in Lubbock on August 29, 1998. Following a memorial service in Lubbock she was buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Laura Bush, Ann Richards, Linda Gayle White, Janie Briscoe, Nellie Connally, Jean Daniel, Jan Bullock, Nelda Laney, and Lady Bird Johnson all served as honorary pallbearers.