<!-- FH = Greenlawn Funeral Home East -->Betty Joan Smith MackBetty Joan Smith Mack was born to Samuel Pleasant Smith and Gussie Bench Smith at Fordland MO, on September 15, 1929. She graduated from Fordland High School in 1946 at the age of 16 and went to Springfield Teachers College. In 1947 she began teaching at Fordland and became engaged to the love of her life, James Lee Mack, also of Fordland. They were married at her parents' home on December 20, 1947.After a short stay in CA, they moved to Wichita, KS in 1952 to work for Boeing Aircraft, where Joan was a secretary and a member of the semi-professional Boeing-sponsored singing group, The Strato-Singers. In 1959, they adopted their first child, Gavin before moving back to southern MO and settling for life in Springfield. Their second child, Joyce, came to them in 1961.Known as Betty in her profession and as Joan by family and friends, she earned a Bachelors of Education from Southwest Missouri State College in 1966 and began her career with the Springfield Public School system as a teacher at Bissett Elementary School. She taught until earning her Masters Degree in Guidance and Counseling in 1972, after which she became an elementary counselor for the rest of her career. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma and the Missouri Guidance Association, who named her Counselor of the Year in 1980. As a counselor, she also helped form the WINGS gifted program for SPS and was instrumental in forming the first support groups for children for both grief and divorce. She retired from SPS in 1989.Besides her work with children, her church was also very important to her. A long-time member of South National (now East Sunshine) Church of Christ she helped start the Family Life Center and was involved in many Bible studies, both as a participant and a leader. As a musician, Joan used her beautiful soprano voice to sing in countless weddings and funerals.She was preceded in death by her parents and her older brother and sister, Donald Lester Smith and Mildred Jean Smith Kindall. She is survived by her husband of 63 years, James Lee Mack; her younger sister, Nancy Lou Smith Miller; her children, James Gavin Mack and wife, Mary, of Carlsbad, NM; daughter Joyce Carol Mack Fenner and husband, Gary, of Ormond Beach, FL; grandsons Jordan Lea Estes; Dustin James Estes and wife, Catherine; Nicholas James Stucky-Mack and Jakob Rickert Fenner; great-grandchildren Rylee Catherine, James Newell, and the yet-to-arrive Brooklyn Grace Estes, along with numerous nieces and nephews.Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Monday, July 11, 2011, at the East Sunshine Church of Christ. Burial will follow in the Fordland Cemetery. Visitation will be held Sunday, July 10, 2011, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the funeral home. Online condolences may be made at: www.greenlawnfuneralhome.com. Arrangements have been entrusted to Greenlawn Funeral Home East. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to Fair Haven Children's Home or St. John's Hospice.