Macletus Marie Dejoie-Smith

Macletus Marie Dejoie-Smith, Ph.D., age 62, passed away peacefully on July 22, 2018 at Passages Hospice in New Orleans due to complications related to a year-long battle with cancer. Beloved wife for 38 years of Michael Smith, Ph.D., loving mother of Gabrielle Renée Dejoie Smith, daughter of Macletus Terrell Dejoie and the late Joseph Adolph Blaine Dejoie Jr., beloved sister of J.A. Blaine Dejoie III, Kristen Wilson and the late Michelle Dejoie- Manning, beloved aunt of Kobie Kennon, beloved sister-in-law of Charles and Maggie Smith. A native New Orleanian, Dr. Dejoie-Smith attended St. Francis Cabrini Elementary where she and two of her siblings were among the first class of African Americans to integrate the school. She went on to attend Mount Carmel Academy before obtaining her B.A from Yale University and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from University of California, Berkeley. She attended Yale in the early years of coeducation at that institution and was the youngest student to be accepted into the clinical psychology doctoral program at Berkeley at age 19. After obtaining her doctorate, Dr. Dejoie-Smith worked professionally for many years as a licensed clinical psychologist in Washington, D.C. while residing with her husband and daughter in Silver Spring, Maryland. She returned to reside and work professionally in New Orleans in 2010. She was licensed as a clinical psychologist in Louisiana and prior to being diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2017 had just passed a national licensing exam to become a medical psychologist in Louisiana. She was highly respected and loved by members of her own and husband’s families and by numerous friends and colleagues. She loved to cook for family holiday gatherings. For many of her daughter’s growing up years she was a “cub” mother to many of her daughter’s friends. She was a warm and devoted aunt to her siblings’ children and grandchildren and to her late sister-in-law’s child and grandchildren. She had a deep, caring relationship with her late mother-in-law. Her kindness, sharp wit, generosity and love of family will be sadly missed. Relatives and friends of the family, priest and parishioners of Transfiguration Catholic Church are invited to attend a Memorial Service at Transfiguration Catholic Church, 5621 Elysian Fields Ave. on Saturday, July 28, 2018 at 11:00 am with Father Paul Desrosiers, Celebrant. Visitation will begin at 10:00 am. Interment: St. Louis # 3 Cemetery. Arrangements by D.W. Rhodes Funeral Home, 3933 Washington Ave. Please visit www.rhodesfuneral.com to sign the guestbook.