Josie Price Smith died Friday, May 28, 2010, at Promise Specialty Hospital. She was 97.

Mrs. Smith was a member of Gibson Memorial United Methodist Church, where she was a Sunday school teacher. She was the first woman delegate elected from the Mississippi Conference to the 1972 General Conference of the United Methodist Church and was later elected to lead the Mississippi Delegation to the General Conference.

She served as a Miss Mississippi Pageant hostess for 50 years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Colbert Price and Naomi Jackson Price; her husband, Marshall Smith; a daughter, Carolyn Campbell; two brothers, William Percy Price and Jack Price; and a sister, Mary LaBelle Weaver.

Survivors include a brother, Don Price of Utica; three grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and other relatives.

Services were at 11 a.m. today at Gibson Memorial United Methodist Church. Burial followed at Cedar Hill Cemetery under the direction of Frank J. Fisher Funeral Home. Pallbearers were Wayne Thornton, John O’Bannon, Sam Smith, Ben Shaw, Hilary Westbrook, Marvin Anderson, Donald Oakes and Lucius Dabney.

Honorary pallbearers were Bill Curtis, Dr. Bill Pierce and Jim Gragg.

Memorials may be made to Gibson Memorial United Methodist Church, 335 Oak Ridge Road, Vicksburg, MS 39183.