Jacqueline Kay Smith Hobbs

   Jacqueline Kay Smith Hobbs, known as Jackie to most, but Mama and Granny to her family, was born on May 11, 1948, in Washington, N.C. She died at home in Hertford on May 15, 2025, after living with cancer for several years.

   Jackie was preceded in death by her parents George Smith and Grace Neal Jordan Smith Ange. She was an only child.

   As a child, Jackie was independent and a quick learner. She baked her own birthday cake at age 9, and at 11 began her lifelong hobbies of sewing and crafting, winning a junior sewing award from the Singer company despite being the youngest entrant in the field. In 1952, Jackie was named “Miss Sweetie Pie” in a pageant sponsored by the Jaycees.

   Jackie graduated from Washington High School in Washington, NC in 1966. An excellent student, with the encouragement of John O’Neal, she enrolled at East Carolina University to study mathematics. She was the first person in her family to graduate from college.

   While at ECU, she met Benjamin Hobbs, her soon-to-be groom, in an English class. The two got to know each other on walks back to the dorms after class. Despite warnings from Ben’s parents that marrying would take their focus off of their studies, Ben and Jackie married their junior year at ECU, during Thanksgiving break. They each stayed on track, and Jackie even graduated early, just one week before their first child, Benjamin Calvin Hobbs, Jr. was born. They were married for fifty-six years.

   After college, Ben and Jackie settled in Ahoskie, N.C. where they found jobs teaching math at the same high school. Their family quickly grew from three to five, as Ernie and Matt were born over the next five years. They moved to Ben’s home community of Bethel, near Hertford, with their young family and continued teaching, joining the math department at John A. Holmes High School in Edenton.

   In the years after college, Ben developed a strong interest in colonial architecture and furniture, while Jackie focused on their three young sons and teaching. Ben began to save old buildings around the area to relocate and restore them on their farm, with Jackie’s encouragement. In 1973, Ben and Jackie purchased, moved, and began the restoration of the 1760s Jeremiah Pratt House.

   With Jackie’s support, Ben made the decision to set up shop as a furniture maker full-time. She soon joined him, both leaving the teaching profession to raise their boys and run the small business. In the woodshop, Jackie specialized in staining and bookkeeping. She also cultivated new skills for many traditional crafts including building functional and decorative household items, throwing and firing pottery, braiding and hooking rugs, sewing, and quilting. She later became a certified beekeeper. Jackie always kept her hands busy, shelling peas or crocheting blankets.

   In 1994 Jackie and Ben opened the Beechtree Inn, a Bed & Breakfast that welcomed hundreds of guests to the charming colonial cottages they had saved and restored. Many guests took classes with Ben on how to build furniture and enjoyed Jackie’s company and cooking. 

   Ben tended to their prolific garden, while Jackie picked, cleaned, shelled, cooked, and preserved all of it. She was known to find a use - and a re-use - for just about anything. Her frugality and thrifty approach to life was respected, even if she was occasionally teased about it by her children.

   In her later years, Jackie became passionate about genealogy. She created a family tree that further detailed the roots of the Smith and Hobbs families.

   Jackie was very active in church communities over the years. She played the piano and organ at Snug Harbor Church, in addition to singing in the choir. Recently, she and Ben joined Bethel Baptist Church and Jackie enjoyed her time at Sunday School and in fellowship with other church members.

   In addition to raising a family, keeping a house and working alongside Ben, Jackie was involved with the community. In Hertford she was a founding member of the Perquimans Arts League and the Friends of the Library. She also served as a member of the NC State Board of Chiropractic Examiners for five years.

   In the last five years, Jackie underwent many surgeries and several long rounds of chemotherapy. Not once did she lose her optimism or her good-natured approach to each day. Her faith in Jesus never wavered. She believed her purpose was to serve Jesus, and she did that every day.

   Jackie is survived by her devoted husband, Benjamin Calvin Hobbs, and three sons: Calvin (Buffy), Ernie (Jenny), and Matt (Katie) and nine grandchildren: Ellie, Ben III, Melanie (Ethan), Michael, Meredith, Madison, Winslow, Penelope and Annie.

   A visitation will be held Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. in Miller & Van Essendelft Funeral Home, 1125 Harvey Point Road, Hertford.

   A memorial service will be held Sunday at 4:00 p.m. in Bethel Baptist Church, 794 Burnt Mill Road, Hertford and will be conducted by Pastor Greg Owenby. A reception will follow in the fellowship hall of the church immediately following the service.

   In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made either to the Perquimans County Library, 514 South Church St., or to the Perquimans County Center for Active Living, 1072 Harvey Point Road, both in Hertford, NC 27944.