Gary Lee Smith

Gary L. Smith went home to be with the Lord on May 18, 2020, at St. David's South Austin Medical Center, Austin TX, after suffering from heart failure. Gary was born in 1942, in Ft. Scott KS. He was the second youngest of eight children. After High School, he worked for a Ft. Scott marble company. In 1965, he began working for the Post Office, but left in February 1966 to join the United States Air Force, in response to the Vietnam War. He served nine years as an Aircraft Electrical Systems Technician, working on helicopters and other military aircraft, both Stateside and in Thailand during the war. He also cross-trained and worked another ten and a half years in Public Affairs, writing and proofing various media until working his way up to the base Newspaper Editor for McChord AFB in Tacoma WA, Plattsburgh AFB in Plattsburgh NY, Ramstein AFB in Ramstein-Miesenbach Germany and Bergstrom AFB in Austin TX. Gary was honorably discharged in 1986 and returned to the U.S. Postal Service, where he worked until his second retirement, in 2006. Gary is survived by his wife, Wanda Watkins Smith; his daughter, Stephanie Perkins, and her mother, Sue Wilson Smith; his stepchildren, Mic...[more]

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l Hood Jr, Mitchell Hood and Anthony Hood; his brother, Billy Smith; his sister, Janice Pent; several step-grandchildren, one step-great-grandchild; and numerous cousins, nephews, and nieces. Gary is preceded in death by his parents, Ivan and Faye Smith, his son, Timothy Ivan Smith, his son-in-law, James D. Perkins, and his siblings: Don Smith, Neil Smith, Rosalee Cox, Harold Smith and Joyce Johnson.