May Perry DeLoach Smith died Friday, June 27, 2025, at Magnolia Gardens in Greenville, Mississippi, surrounded by her family.

Born in Greenwood, she was the only child of the late Mr. and Mrs. Percy Larkins DeLoach Jr. After graduation from Greenwood High School, she attended Sullins College in Virginia before transferring to the University of Mississippi where she completed her studies and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

In 1968, she married Harry Leslie Smith Jr., of Jackson. They later moved to Greenwood and together ran DeLoach's, the ladies department store founded in 1934 by Perry's grandfather. Besides her career in retail, Perry worked for years promoting tourism in the Mississippi Delta, serving as director of the Greenwood-Leflore Convention and Visitors Bureau. Her civic endeavors including serving on the boards of the Mississippi Delta Tourism Association and the Bank of Commerce. Her years as a volunteer for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., informed her later career as an independent consultant producing the Mississippi Folklife Festival in Greenville and Thunder on the Water in Grenada. She traveled the country as part of a hot air balloon team.

In addition to Harry, preceding her in death were her cousin, Frank Abbott, and her niece, Adele Bethany Kette.

She is survived by a daughter, Laura Ann Mullins, and her husband, William Alan Mullins, of Vienna, Va.; a son, Wesley DeLoach Smith, and his wife, Laura Hough Smith, of Greenville; five grandchildren, Chaney DeLoach Mullins Gooley and her husband, Patrick Gooley, of Arlington, Va., U.S. Air Force Capt. William Henry A. Mullins and his wife, Lindsay Mullins, of Vienna, Va., Perry Alice Mullins Kesting and her husband, U.S. Navy Lt. Henry J. Kesting, of Virginia Beach, Va., and Laura Lucille "Lollie" Smith and Marilyn Finley Smith, both of Greenville; five great-grandchildren, Rory Lee Mullins, Michael William Mullins, and Eleanora Lee Mullins, all of Vienna, Va., and Laura Lucille "Lucy" Kesting and Loretta Grace Kesting, both of Virginia Beach, Va.; a sister-in-law, Lorraine Smith Bethany, of Madison; a niece, Kate Campbell, and her husband, John, of Madison; and her beloved cousins, Jim DeLoach, and his wife, Susan DeLoach, of Dallas, Jimmy Abbott, and his wife, Cynthia Abbott, of Oxford, and Olivia DeLoach Zahler, and her husband, Gary Zahler, of Asheville, NC.

Perry was comforted in her later years by the professional and caring staff at Magnolia Gardens. Delois Winfrey, Carlom Pennington, Eunice Blankinship, and other gracious women provided excellent and loving care to our "Babe."

Visitation is from 1-3 p.m. Monday, June 30, at Wilson and Knight Funeral Home in Greenwood. A graveside service at Odd Fellows Cemetery will follow the visitation.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Leflore County Humane Society, 1810 Cypress Ave., Greenwood, MS, 38930, or the St. James Episcopal Day School, 1026 S. Washington Ave., Greenville, MS 38701.