Obituary of Cordie Rose Hines

Cordie Rose Smith Hines

August 2, 1926 to August 1, 2021

Cordie Rose Smith Hines was born in Austin, Texas August 2, 1926 to the union of Lizzie T. and Connie Smith. Her mother would later marry George Lee Lightfoot and they would both raise Cordie and her brother Lemuel in Amarillo, Texas. There, Cordie attended Patton High School, where she later graduated. After high school she married Herman Alvin Hines, having two daughters, Rosalind Odette and Alison.

She was a member of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Amarillo, where she was a member of the senior choir and also became the youth choir director. She enjoyed working with the youth and became a Girl Scout Leader in Amarillo’s North Heights community; inspiring a multitude of girls to seek higher education and careers; many who she continued to mentor throughout her elderly years. She became a Roman Catholic in 1994, becoming a devoted member of the St. Rita Church Community in Dallas, Texas. There, she was an active member of the church bible study and prayer organizations.

As a wife and mother in Amarillo, she worked as a library page, clerk and bookmobile driver for the City of Amarillo’s Mary E. Bivins Library. She would later become the first African American to become the library’s mobile unit supervisor. She would later attend Amarillo Junior College. While still working at the library, she attended West Texas State University, in Canyon, Texas, where she graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Subsequently, the City of Amarillo assigned her to open and be the director of the newly built Southwest Branch Library, becoming the first African American to assume an administrative position with that city’s library division. While still working in her director’s role in Amarillo, Cordie began commuting weekly from Amarillo to Denton, Texas to study library science at Texas Woman’s University where she graduated in 1970 with a Master’s Degree in Library Science.

Although, she was still directing the Southwest Branch Library in Amarillo, the City of Dallas (immediately following her MA graduation), recruited Cordie to manage the Crossroads Community Center Branch Library (later re-named the Martin Luther King Jr. Library). Therefore, she accepted the position and moved to Dallas in 1970. She managed that branch only two years before she was promoted to the Assistant Chief of all branch libraries in Dallas (becoming the first African American in an administrative position for the city’s library division). As the city’s growth increased, she became Zone Director of all libraries in the North Dallas district aiding in the ground breaking of two new libraries at the time (Fretz Park, Forest Green) and the establishment of the Preston Royal branch.

Cordie retired from the Dallas Public Library in 1982, but continued to be an active member of various organizations.

She was an active member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Dallas Alumnae Chapter and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Dallas Alumnae Chapter will pay tribute to Cordie, tentatively scheduled in September.

Cordie was also a member of the Friends of the Library; American Library Association; Southwestern Library Association; Texas Library Association and the Dallas County Library Association.

She served on the boards for the Lone Star Council of Camp Fire; Girls Adventure Trails; Dallas Metropolitan Business and Professional Women’s Club; Metropolitan YWCA; Literacy of America Volunteers; Dallas Post Tribune Newspaper; Dallas (Tejas) Girl Scouts; Dallas Day Care Association; the Dallas Urban League and the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts.

Also during her career, she received the City of Dallas Commitment to Excellence Award; the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Campaign Award; the Dallas Public Library Association Distinguished Service Award; The Dallas Independent School District Volunteer Award; the Dallas Metropolitan Business and Professional Women’s Award and the Texas Association of Culture Community Services Award.

Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Lightfoot, brother, Lemuel Byron Smith, former husband, Herman Alvin Hines and daughter, Rosalind Odette Hines Beatty all preceded her in death. She is survived by her daughter, Alison Hines-Boney of Dallas, Texas; granddaughter, Lauren Odette Beatty Lacey of Dallas, Texas; grandson, Charles Brandon Beatty of Dallas, Texas; great-granddaughters, Emory Odette and Blair Alexandra Lacey, both of Dallas, Texas; nieces Melva R. Hines Patterson of Dallas, Texas; Jackie Hines of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; nephew, Alfred B. Smith of Texas; first cousin, Lessie B. Phillips of Topeka, Kansas and a host of other relatives and friends.