Earnest L. "Buddy" Smith

Funeral services will be at 2:00 p.m. Friday, January 23, 2015 at Griggs Schooler Gordon Funeral Home Pioneer Chapel with Reverend Carroll Messer officiating.

Burial will be in Llano Cemetery. Arrangements are by Griggs Schooler Gordon Funeral Directors

Buddy was born October 24, 1917 in Gainesville to James Emery and Pearl Clark Smith. He proudly served as a Seabee in the U.S. Navy. Buddy fondly remembered a time when a typhoon hit Okinanwa and for 3 days he sat on a bucket because everything had blown away. Buddy married the love of his life, Lydia Ann Moore on March 13, 1938 and moved to Amarillo in 1952 where he worked as a carpenter building the Shamrock gas stations and then for Furr’s Food until his retirement. Buddy and Lydia were married for 68 years and enjoyed fishing, camping, attending sing-alongs and entertaining their grandchildren. Buddy was an avid sports fan and was a semi-pro baseball player in his youth. He loved the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys. He also had a love for music. Buddy played guitar, banjo, mandolin, French harp and the dobro. Buddy truly enjoyed playing and singing for audiences at church, sing-alongs and later for his home at Canyon View Assisted Living.

Buddy was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Lydia; 2 brothers, J.E. and Hershel; 2 sisters, Lucille and Irene and a great-grandson, Josh Wages.

Buddy is survived by a son Frankie Smith and Kathy of Wichita Falls; a daughter, Sharon Smith Petricone of Amarillo; a sister, Gladys Stewart of Pampa; three granddaughters, Kelly Wages of Lubbock, Tracy Little and husband Cary of Wichita Falls and Kimberly Dill of Seattle, WA; 6 great-grandchildren; 2 great-great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be at the funeral home from 5-7 p.m. Thursday

The family suggests memorials be to BSA Hospice, 600 N. Tyler, Amarillo or Harvest Time Pentacostal Church of God, 409 S. Cleveland, Amarillo, 79102 or a favorite charity.