Name | Sharon Faye “Shari” SMITH [1] | |
Born | 1968 | |
Gender | Female | |
HIST | Sister of slain teen will speak at 2 Sumter churches BY ROBERT J. BAKER bbaker@theitem.com Many Midlands residents remember Dawn Smith Jordan as Miss South Carolina 1986 and a second runner-up at Miss America later that year. But it is her role as a beleaguered older sister in a horrific family tragedy that guides her role as a public speaker, one that will bring her to two Sumter churches on Sunday. "We have had her here before, and she just has such a testimony," said the Rev. J. Robert Huggins, pastor of St. John United Methodist Church, where Jordan, also a professional singer, will speak at 11 a.m. Sunday. "She has been through tragedy in her life a couple of times. She speaks of overcoming her adversity and moving forward in life by leaning on her trust in God. She has a wonderful message and a beautiful voice." Jordan was just 21 in May 1985 when her 17-year-old sister, Sharon "Shari" Faye Smith, was kidnapped at gunpoint from the end of the family's driveway on Platt Springs Road in Columbia. Smith's body was later found in Saluda County, but not before her killer, Larry Gene Bell, called the family numerous times and taunted Jordan and her parents. Bell, who was electrocuted in 1996 for Smith's murder and that of a 9-year-old Richland County girl, even made Smith write a testament before murdering her, which Jordan later read in TV interviews. Smith told her family in writing that she was going home to her heavenly Father and that "something good will come of this." Jordan says on her website that she focuses on her deep and abiding faith in God during her public appearances. She relied on that faith as she worked through a rough divorce after living as a preacher's wife, becoming a single mother and then losing her own mother to cancer. "We can't start the next chapter in our lives if we keep re-reading the old one," Jordan says on her website. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (I) had no idea what all things would look like over the next 25-plus years, but (my) Father did." Jordan will also speak at 7 p.m. Sunday at Providence Baptist Church. Both sessions are open to the public. For more information, visit www.dawnsmithjordan.com. Posted in Local news, News on Saturday, June 29, 2013 [1] | |
_UID | 24D2B9A108DB4FF9838BCDAC1A2BE7EB192A | |
Died | May 1985 [1] | |
Person ID | I286585 | Singleton and other families |
Last Modified | 2 Jul 2013 |
Father | SMITH | |
_UID | 9AC8B8140F39445885F0A994274D1990E12A | |
Family ID | F192482 | Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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