Terry Lyddell Smith

Terry Lyddell Smith, age 67, of Richardson, Texas passed away on Wednesday, August 29, 2018. Terry was born Saturday, September 02, 1950 in Fort Worth, Texas to Melva and Jim Bill Smith. He was the youngest of two. His older brother, Dale Smith, helped his parents welcome Terry into the family.

Terry was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, where he was an Eagle Scout. He liked camping and his family spent many summers camping in Colorado in the summer vacations. He graduated from Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth 1968. He attended and graduated Austin College in Sherman, Texas in 1973 with a Bachelors in Education and a Masters in Education in 1974. Terry spent his Junior year of the Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, Germany at the University there. His major was German History. He was fluent in German and was able to function in Bayrisch! He also held Professional Mid-management and Supervisor Certificates from the University of North Texas. He never had the honor of serving in the military, but he had wanted to. He and his college roommate and best friend planned to join the Marines. A tragic car accident ruined those plans as Terry ended up graduating from college in a hospital room with a rod supporting his femur.

Terry taught for ten years in Fort Worth, teaching History and German. He left to sell textbooks for Holt, Rinehart and Winston and moved through the ranks to become first District Manager, then Regional Vice-President and when he retired he was Vice-President of Sales Operations for the US.

Terry married Elizabeth Andersen Stewart in 1988 at Resurrection Lutheran Church. Their marriage lasted 30 years, until his untimely passing. The church wedding ceremony was a standing room only event because nobody could believe that either Beth or Terry would get married and they called to get an invite. Although Terry teased Beth that she said “obey without question” in the vows, the tape tells the truth. He would not have wanted a wife that agreed to “obey without question.” The first time he met his future in-laws, he saw Beth’s mother walking in the yard behind her father. He was watering flowers and she was holding the hose. He soon found out his mother-in-law was not a follower and neither was his new wife. However, he had an emergency gallbladder operation a few weeks before they were to leave on a family reunion cruise and couldn’t lift over 10 lbs. So Beth and Kim followed behind him carrying the luggage and the video camera (at that time in a huge case) and he was the envy of every man on the cruise. When Terry and Beth married, he was suddenly a father to a 13 year old daughter, Kimberly Stewart Hampton, she was his pride and joy. He delighted embarrassing her when possible. He dressed up as a Vikette and performed in the drill team Spring show. His long blond braids from his German wig looked great with his mustache. He and Beth took Kim and a friend to Germany and embarrassed them both by kissing on the museum island in Berlin. On Kim’s first date – Terry met her date at the door with a sword. All Kim heard from the back of the house was, “nice sword sir!”

Terry was beaming while walking Kim down the aisle when she married Lance Hampton in 1998. When Kim and Lance started having children, he was overcome with love for his grandchildren. Max, now 16, Eva, 13, and Xavier 6 were very special to Terry. Sometimes he only saw them at church on Sunday, but he proudly carried his “grandparent” pass to get into the events for school functions. Terry was affectionately known as Bubba and was Opa to his grandkids.

Terry didn’t have a lot of pet sayings, but he did have a tendency to voice his feelings in German, because sometimes German was more appropriate. He would often say he and Beth would do things after they won the lottery, but then he would say, “Did you buy a ticket?” When Beth replied negatively, he admitted he didn’t either.

Terry was devastated when “his” little red poodle died after 18 years. Spook (Booper) would always stay in a kennel when he and Beth traveled. Spook loved it there because the owners took him home and let him sleep on their bed (never allowed at home with Terry and Beth). When Terry and Beth traveled they would search out postcards that had dogs on them and send them to Spook.

Terry was very active in his church. On his and Beth’s first date, they talked for hours. Beth told him she was Lutheran and spent the evening explaining why. He became a Lutheran and became very involved in the church. He sang in the choir, served as an Assisting Minister, worked with the Men’s group organizing Oktoberfest, served as President of the church council. He even became somewhat of an expert on Martin Luther by portraying him on Reformation Sunday. He and Beth researched, wrote and performed a 20 minute presentation dressed as Martin and Katie Luther.

Terry loved Football and was named All District Defensive Guard in High School. He loved playing bridge and was a master at playing 3 No Trump bids. He loved singing. Like his father, he had a beautiful deep bass voice and sang in the church choir and with the quartet in the summers when they sang. More than once he was asked to be the “Voice of God” during presentations at church. He played the French Horn in High School and College. He loved listening to brass being played and insisted on having a brass quartet to play at his and Beth’s wedding. After retiring, he loved cruising. He loved visiting foreign places, although he had trouble navigating with his bad knees the last couple of years, he still was a trooper. He loved playing trivia on the cruises-especially when we won! He always joined the choirs when the ship had them on the transatlantic cruises.

Terry’s favorite place to be was anywhere in Germany or Austria or a beer garden in the United States that reminded him of Germany or Austria. He loved leading the church groups to Germany because he wanted to share the things he loved. Before he would travel, with Beth or with a group, he would make a folder and before they left, that folder would be filled with details of things going on wherever they would be; if there was an organ concert in Breman he would know about it. If there was a Krampus Lauf at the Christmas Market in Munich, he would know when and where to be. The incredible thing was that he remembered everything about places we would visit and could recite historical facts and information on every place he went. Terry was an avid philatelist. He specialized in stamps from German speaking countries and worked as a translator for the Lichtenstein Philatelic Society. He made it a point to visit any stamp stores he could find when traveling overseas. They were often on the 3rd floor of a non air-conditioned building in the summer. Because of his and Beth’s exchange program with a school in Deggendorf, they made lasting friends in Deggendorf and Plattling. They were wonderful exeriences and Terry would have loved to win the lottery and buy an apartment or house in Plattling. He had webcams of Plattling and Deggendorf set on his computer so he could see what was going on. He knew when the first snow fell and he and Beth watched them set up Christmas markets or the May Pole.

Terry’s favorite cultural events were Oktoberfest and Christmas. He loved putting up Christmas decorations and faithfully set up the little village and all the light garlands in the family room. It was truly magical to enjoy what he did at Christmas. He and Beth would come home from Christmas Eve services and just sit and enjoy the lights.

Terry was preceded in death by; mother Melva Smith, father James William Smith, and furbaby Spook

Terry is survived by his wife Elizabeth (Beth) Smith of Richardson, his daughter and son-in-law, Kimberly and Lance Hampton, and their 3 children, Max Logan Hampton, Eva Alexandra Hampton, and Xavier Remington Hampton all of Frisco. His brother and sister-in-law Dale and Susan Smith of Cortez, Colorado.

Visitation for Terry will be held Friday, August 31, 2018 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Ted Dickey West Funeral Home 8011 Frankford Road Dallas, Texas 75252.

Funeral Service will occur Saturday, September 01, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. at Resurrection Lutheran Church 1919 Independence Parkway Plano, Texas 75075

Graveside Service will occur Saturday, September 01, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. at Hilltop Memorial Park 1810 North Perry Road Carrollton, Texas 78006

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions in Terry's memory be made to

Resurrection Lutheran Church

Music or Youth Ministry

1919 Independence Parkway

Plano, Texas 75075

972-867-0460

www.rlcplano.org/online.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.teddickeywestfuneral.com for the Smith family.