Everett Alan Smith, U.S. Army (Retired)

May 9, 1930 – April 30, 2025

Lieutenant Colonel Everett Alan Smith (Retired) passed away peacefully on April 30, 2025, in San Antonio, Texas, just days shy of his 95th birthday. A decorated Army officer, community fixture, devoted husband, and world-class storyteller, Alan lived his life with a rare blend of humility, humor, and heart.

Born in Mangum, Oklahoma, on May 9, 1930, Alan was the third of five children of Everett Aaron (or Arra and maybe Arrow) and Verda Juanita Kelley Smith. He was the only sibling born in a hospital and the only one with shoes in the classic family portrait (it was his day to wear the shoes with the toes cut out). He was raised in the Hester farming community, where he helped his family tend crops and livestock. His early life was simple, often cold (unless a bed was freshly wet), and rich in character-building moments he would retell for decades.

Alan graduated from Mangum High School in 1948 and served in the Oklahoma National Guard. Armed with a scholarship of $100 from the Hester Women’s Farm Club, he attended Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (Kansas OAMC now Oklahoma State University), studying Agronomy and supporting himself through a string of eclectic jobs, including egg candler, service station attendant, campus police officer, and occasional bootlegger. He earned his ROTC commission in 1952 at OAMC and was a rodeo bronc rider and a licensed pilot.

In 1950, he met (at the service station) and later married the charming and beautiful Elva Rose Horton in Goltry, Oklahoma. Prior to the wedding, while introducing Elva to family, it was often asked “when would the wedding would be?”, Alan would offhandedly reply, “August”. The loving proposal, such as it was, consisted of him asking Elva if she wanted to disappoint his entire family that thought they were getting married in August. They spent the next 74 and a half years in a loving, witty, and joyful partnership. At the time of Alan’s passing, they had been married for 27,281 days, 15 hours, 38 minutes, and 18 seconds, but who’s counting.

During Alan’s 20+ years of military service, he played a key role in protecting us all from the ever present “Communist Threat” (his words) serving as an Army Corps of Engineers aviator. He took his growing family and the pet Capuchin monkeys around the world from the U.S.A. to Japan back to U.S.A., Libya, Colombia (South America), Iran, and again back to the U.S.A.

Alan also served our country with Temporary Duty (TDY) in such places as Panama, Ethiopia, Sudan, and greater Southeast Asia. He served in active duty in Korea and Vietnam. Alan retired from the United States “Paratrooping” Army in 1973 from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel—a title he fondly referred to as “telephone colonel” (as a LTC answered the telephone as Colonel). Throughout his service, Alan flew both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, accumulating more than 5,000 flight hours—including over 150 in combat zones. His logbook included aircraft such as the UH-1 Huey, the OH-13 Sioux, the U6-A Beaver, U-1A Otter, and the iconic C-47 Skytrain.

Alan’s military honors included the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Air Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with One Silver Star, and two Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Crosses. However, it was only the “Fairly Good Conduct Medal” that Alan spoke about.

After retiring from the Army in 1973, Alan moved to Altus, Oklahoma, where he tried his hand at retail before getting back to his roots—farming. Cotton, alfalfa, wheat, sorghum, mung beans, and cattle.

By 1993, he and Elva really retired and moved to Laguna Vista, near South Padre Island, where they spent summers taking care of their grandchildren, Erin and Grace, swimming daily and fishing weekly. From there, they moved to McAllen, Texas and finally settled in San Antonio in 2001 where Alan lived out the rest of his fun and full life doing an inordinate amount of paperwork.

In San Antonio, Alan seamlessly transitioned into civilian life as the de facto “Mayor of Encino Rio” where he held court from a lawn chair on his driveway with a drink in a blue plastic glass. Inviting neighbors to grab a beer (or wine or cocktail) and pull up a chair. His common snide line to people coming home from work was “I used to have a job.”

A beloved figure in the neighborhood, in addition to his own grandchildren, he became a surrogate grandfather to many neighborhood children—often listed as an alternate pickup person and repeatedly called upon to pick up a kid whose “legs got too tired” at the neighborhood gate on their way home from school. He was up to writing Christmas checks to 29 neighborhood kids.

He was a relentless cook and baker, known for his peanut brittle, banana bread, lemon ice cream, and rum cake deliveries—whether you asked for them or not. (Many neighbors learned to keep their blinds closed just in case.)

Alan was never without a story (some of them were different), a clever saying (debatable), or a perfectly timed wisecrack/tease. He never let anyone else pick up the check at a restaurant (that we can remember). He gave great advice (occasionally unsolicited), told better stories (some of them true), and made everyone around him feel seen, valued, and constantly teased. He had a knack for mixing the heartfelt with the hilarious and left a deep imprint on friends, family, and strangers alike.

He is survived by his incredibly charming wife, Elva; brother, Kenneth; the best sister in the world, Maxine; daughter, Cynthia of San Antonio, TX; son, Rhett and his wife Elva and children Karina and Gabriel (Gaby Baby) of Lamy, NM; Brian and his wife Dale and children, Michael and Donny of Littleton, CO; and Dusty and his wife, Kellie and children, Erin, Grace, Carter, and Eric of San Antonio, TX; and great-grandchildren, Blakelee, Alice, Cristian (Just Chris), Diego, Kamila, Nora, and Felix.

A military service with honors will be held at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at 11:00 AM.

A celebration of Alan’s life—complete with stories, laughter, and likely lemon ice cream, rum cake, and banana bread—will be hosted this summer, on the evening of July 19th on Rio Sabinal Street in the Encino Rio neighborhood. Hoping all members and prospective members of the Black Circle Club (YKIYK) will attend. The festivities will be led by Trent Elliott and the neighborhood friends who loved him like family.

In lieu of flowers please donate to your favorite charity and think of Alan as you slide your credit card or buy Trent Elliott a case of Michelob Ultra.