William Ashe Smoak

Bill is survived by his wife of 28 years, Beverly Bodiford Smoak; son, William (Bill) G. K. Smoak; granddaughter, Jacquelyn Faye Smoak, all of Tampa, FL; his twin brother, Glenn Manford Smoak & his wife, Rita, of Port Charlotte, FL; sister, Peggy Shugart of St. Augustine, Fl; brother, Rick Burchfield & his wife, Robin, of St. Augustine, Fl; brother, David Burchfield & his wife, Susan, of Gainesville, Fl; sister, Teri Hopkins & her husband, Steve, of Gainesville, Fl; Anita Shanklin & her husband, Rich, of Ormond Beach, FL and many, many wonderful and loving nieces, nephews and extended family.

He is preceded in death by his first wife of 26 years, Jacquelyn (Jackie) Burchfield Smoak, of St. Augustine, Fl, his sister Elaine Irons, brother John Shugart, sister Anita Burchfield and brother Joseph Burchfield.

Bill and his twin brother, Glenn, were born on February 3, 1948, in St. Augustine, Fl to Col. Luther Glenn Smoak and WAC 2nd Lt. Edith Manford Smoak. As a military family, they lived in Texas, Nebraska and Pennsylvania as his father commanded ordnance depots in those states. Eventually, they settled in Arlington, Va. Bill ultimately moved back south and graduated from St. Augustine High School. Later, Bill graduated from THE University of Florida in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering. If you knew anything about Bill Smoak, you knew that he treasured his family, his country and his beloved Florida Gators.

Bill began his passion for all outdoor adventures as he gained life experiences and developed leadership skills in scouting, culminating in attaining the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America program, as an Eagle Scout. Bill was invited into its national honor society, The Order of the Arrow, after having led scouting treks at Arizona’s Philmont Scout Ranch High Adventures and treks along The Appalachian Trail.

Bill came from a very gifted musical family. His Aunt Barbara Manford was mezzo-soprano who studied opera in Milan, Italy; his Aunt Margaret Manford was known to have perfect pitch and was a well-known piano teacher in St. Augustine; and his Uncle Ken Kapphan was a talented jazz trumpeter in Pittsburg, Pa and St. Augustine. So, it was no surprise that, in his youth in Arlington, Va, Bill became very skilled in playing bass trombone in the band and was ultimately invited to play with the National Symphony Orchestra. He continued his lifelong love of music of all genres, but his true musical favorites were Puccini operas.

In 1964 at the age of 16, Bill was appointed by S. Carolina’s Sen. Strom Thurmond to be his Page in the United States Senate. During this year-long term in the Senate, Bill tells of many experiences observing US Senators on both sides of the aisle as they worked together to achieve historic, milestone, bi-partisan legislation including that in support of The Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Bill learned powerboating and fishing skills at a very early age and later fell in love with scuba diving, spear fishing and lobstering in Florida’s beautiful waters, having many fishing and diving adventures with friends and his son, Bill. Later, he and his wife, Beverly, took up fly-fishing and enjoyed many trips on favorite streams and rivers out west, on the Great Lakes and in the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.

After his graduation from the University of Florida with his nuclear engineering degree, Bill’s professional career began with work at United Engineers as a nuclear safety licensing engineer in Hatboro, PA. He then had the opportunity to join General Electric Co. (GE) and their turbine power generation sales engineer program, traveling from Los Angeles, CA to Schenectady, NY and eventually moving to St Petersburg, FL with his young wife, Jackie, and their son, Bill. While at GE, Bill formed many life-long valued friendships with his bosses, with many GE co-workers and with professional colleagues within the power generation industry.

In the early-1990s, he joined Progress Energy (PE) and developed his invaluable understanding of the business financial modeling facets of electric power generation for the benefit of the growth of PE’s independent power production (IPP) business on an international scale. Bill later took his new financial skills and advanced his engineering career with TECO Power Services, Inc., Calpine, Inc and United Technologies’ Energy Services, Inc. In his work to grow his employer’s national and international power plant development businesses and ownership of production assets, Bill traveled to negotiate many projects’ structures and contract terms with local authorities throughout the USA, Europe, Central and South America, The Netherlands, Africa, the Middle East and Bangladesh.

When COVID hit everyone, Bill and Beverly did not hibernate, but Bill acquired bicycles for them, and they began a new chapter in their love of the outdoors as they took the bikes along with them on their fly-fishing travels. As he and Beverly entered their retirement life together, they loved the adventure of extended road trips, wherever it might take them, to visit friends & family and to discover new fishing spots and beautiful biking trails along the roads and national parks of America and Canada. And spending time with his son, Bill, and his granddaughter, Jacquelyn, both of whom he deeply loved and was so enormously proud, were always the happiest of his days.

Throughout his life, Bill was fortunate to develop many true and valued friendships, both in the US and internationally, and luckier still to have wonderful family relationships. Bill and Beverly cherished their annual tradition of hosting their family reunion in the backyard, in addition to their wintertime oyster roast on the lake for friends and family. Bill loved a good laugh, an excellent bourbon and was always up for an exciting adventure traveling the world over with Beverly and their friends, adding to their art collection along the way. We shall miss him dearly.

A Celebration of Bill’s Life is scheduled for Friday, September 20, 2024, at the Blount & Curry Life Event Center at 605 S. MacDill Ave., Tampa, Fl 33609. There will be visitation time from 4:00pm to 6:00pm, with a service following at 6:00pm. All family, friends and colleagues are welcome to attend, celebrate your friendship with Bill and share a story or two about him. In honor of Bill’s life-long passion for his beloved Florida Gators, everyone is invited to wear orange & blue and/or dress in your favorite UF Gator gear.

In lieu of flowers, please consider sending donations in Bill’s memory to one of his favorite charitable organizations and support the mission he believed in so strongly at the Heart of Adoptions Alliance, Inc. at www.heartofadoptionsalliance.com