Beatrice L. Smith | Secretary, volunteer, 91

Beatrice Leitz Smith, 91, of Newtown, a hospital volunteer for 18 years and former secretary to a congressman, died April 4 at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne.

Mrs. Smith grew up in Philadelphia and Croydon. After graduating from Bristol High School, she was a secretary at the law firm of Masterson & McGranery. When one of the partners, James Patrick McGranery, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1936, she joined his Philadelphia office.

She often traveled to Washington to attend special events, her daughter Rosemary Tragemann said, including one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's inaugural balls. She also had tea with Eleanor Roosevelt on the White House lawn.

In 1939, Mrs. Smith married William H. Smith, whom she had met at a church dance in Mayfair. She gave up her secretary's position in McGranery's office when her first child was born.

After Mrs. Smith and her husband moved from Northeast Philadelphia to Langhorne in 1980, she volunteered in the gift shop at St. Mary's Medical Center. She was former secretary of the hospital's Women's Guild.

She and her husband enjoyed their summer home in Brigantine and traveling abroad, and they took organ lessons together. He died in 1988.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Smith is survived by sons William Jr., and Donald; a daughter, Bernadette Fuller; a sister; eight grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass was said April 10 at the Old Church of St. Andrew, 131 Sycamore St., Newtown. Burial was in Our Lady of Grace Cemetery, Langhorne.