Home » Lillian Earline (Earline) Smith Boggero Obituary
Lillian Earline (Earline) Smith Boggero Obituary
Lillian Earline (Earline) Smith Boggero, age unknown (per her request – most recently stated to be 39), passed away on Thursday, May 16, 2024. She is survived by three daughters, Laurin Ann Boggero of Columbia SC, Tracy Boggero White (the late Andrew White) of Gainesville GA, and Eugenia (Gena) Boggero Partain (Benjamin Partain) of Greenwood, SC, four grandchildren – Abigail Lillian Smith, Grant Harrison Smith, Anna Marie Smith and Savannah Lillian (Lilly) Partain along with many adored nieces and nephews.
Born December 23rd, year unknown, she was the daughter of the late Earl Doyle Smith and Margaret Knight Smith of Abbeville SC. Earline graduated from Abbeville High School and graduated from Anderson Memorial Hospital School of Nursing as a diploma nurse in 1963 and won the prestigious award of ‘Who’s Who in Nursing’. As an RN, Earline then returned to Abbeville and began a long career at her beloved Abbeville Hospital where she became the ‘right hand’ nurse to Dr. George Rosenberg. During her career, she touched the lives of so many people that it was hard for her to go anywhere without seeing and talking to several of her former patients who remembered her comforting words and gentle hands in their most troubled hour. A favorite nursing memory for Earline was when she delivered a baby prior to the doctor arriving at the hospital to later find out the baby had been named after her. In addition to the lives she touched in her nursing career, she also met her closest lifelong friends including her ‘big sis’ from nursing school, Dawn Simpson, Peggy Boswell, Susan Shirley, Dr. Heidi Rodillo, Elaine Nixon, Lottie Ibell, and the other Southern Belles.
In 1968, Earline met her husband of 45 years, Barrett Nadell Boggero, who convinced her to marry him on a dare after dating only three months. He always said he would not have gotten her to marry him any other way. Soon they became the parents to Laurin, Tracy and Gena who Earline always said were the joys of her life at the same time referring to her girls as Lightning, Thunder and Tornado (it is a clear given to anyone that knows Gena knows she was the Tornado out of the three). She took being a mother as one of the most important jobs of her life, saying that God loaned her three special gifts that she was to care for and raise to meet again one day in His kingdom. Her love and care for her daughters will be the greatest gift she ever gave them as they will always remember a mother who would play badminton with them in the backyard, take them on picnics and always be their biggest fan no matter what they did in life.
Of course, many in the community also remember Earline for her famous belly dancing career. She studied the art of belly dancing from an Egyptian professor at Clemson University and began a second career of teaching the art for many years, opening her own studio with over 200 students at one time. Many of you may know her by her professional dancing name, Leila Hassan, who danced at multiple events in the state and country with Barry close by her side smiling wider than anyone there!
After retiring from her nursing career, Earline took on a third career in helping Barry run Boggero’s Septic Tank and Services, which was started by Barry’s father Nadell. She loved working with the customers and helping the people of the Lakelands. She also loved the men and women who are part of the Boggero’s team and considered them her family and often referred to them as her children too.
In 2000, life took a drastic turn for Earline when she first became a grandmother to Abigail Lillian Smith, followed by Grant Harrison Smith, Anna Marie Smith and Savannah Lillian (Lilly) Partain. Earline became the doting ‘Nana’. She quickly taught her grandchildren to say ‘I want to go to Nana’s’ whenever they wanted that extra hug – or a shopping trip! She made sure to attend every event and graduation and made sure she was sitting on the front row and being the first to have her picture made with her grandchildren. Her most recent trip to Georgia just three days before her passing was to watch her granddaughter Anna in her senior dance recital – crying the entire recital!
Of all the loves in her life, Earline’s greatest love was her God and the church. She was a member of Panola United Methodist Church. She would often spend hours in her later years reading her devotions and Bible and talking about the wonderful day that she would see Jesus face-to-face. Her loss in this world will be felt by so many, but we know she is finally with her beloved Jesus. This amazing wife, mother, grandmother, friend and nurse truly spent her life with a ‘servant’s heart’. We all love you, Earline!!
A memorial service will be held at 3pm on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at Harley Funeral Home Chapel.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Monday from 5-7pm
Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society or to Panola United Methodist Church.
Messages and photos can be shared with the family by visiting www.harleyfuneralhome.com.