Benjamin E. Smith

Smith, Benjamin E., 93, died October 18, 2015. Ben was born on May 19, 1922 in Edmond, Oklahoma to Doras O. Smith and Alma Unzicker Smith. He graduated from Enid High School in 1940. In 1940, Ben worked for Davis Westholt, a Defense plant in Wichita, Kansas. He joined the United States Navy in 1942 and served at Barbers Point, Oahu, Hawaii as an Aviation Metalsmith. He continued his service in Norman, Oklahoma, teaching as an Aviation Metalsmith at the Naval Air Technical Training Center. Ben was honorably discharged in 1946. Ben met the love of his life, Alyce Genevieve Culver, who was attending nurse’s training in Enid, Oklahoma. Ben and Genny married in 1946. He attended law school at Oklahoma City University and was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar on March 26, 1957. He spent his professional years dividing his time between law specializing in probate, his real estate business and volume income tax preparation. After retirement in his 60’s Ben fell in love with a piece of land in Coal County in eastern Oklahoma near Coalgate. Ben and Genny began spending weeks at a time camping on their 80 acre farm in Coal County for a period of about 25 years. Ben spent his final two and a half years living at the Norman Veterans Center in the loving care of respectful and caring nurses and staff. Ben and Genny were lifelong members of Capitol Hill United Methodist Church.

Ben was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Genevieve “Genny” Smith, his sister Marjorie and her husband Charles Malicote; his sister, Betty and her husband Ray Poling, and his grandson, Brian David Winkler. Ben is survived by his daughter Jill and her husband Ron Winkler, his grandson Steve Winkler and wife, April and their children Eva, Max and Elise; and his grandson, Mike Winkler and his wife, Nicole and their children, Isaac, Lucas, Jonah and Hannah. Ben is also survived by his beloved first cousin Nancy Hasenfratz and her husband, Wayne, his nieces Marcia LaMunyon, Shelley Stutchman and her husband, Horace Stutchman, Cindy Hannon and her husband, George Hannon and a host of great nieces and nephews.

Ben will be remembered as an honest businessman, a caring friend, a faithful and loving father, a man of strength, strong will, integrity and a man who taught by example to be frugal, happy with simple things and generous with those in true need. He was a good man who felt a special tenderness for the hard working common man.