James Lester Smith

James Lester Smith was born in Atlanta, Georgia on May 19, 1920. He was the youngest child of Georgia and Charles Smith, born when his mother was 49 years old. He had 3 bothers (Paul, Charles Jr, and Brantley) and 2 sisters (Mary and Ruby), plus several unnamed brothers who died in childbirth. Jim is preceded in death by his wife, Montrose “Trosie” Bagley Smith, and is survived by his daughter Sandra Render of Atlanta and son Greg Smith of Arlington, Texas. He has two granddaughters, Amy Sexton of Burleson, Texas and Megan Drylie of Duncan, Oklahoma; two great grandsons, Edward Anderson Drylie and James Bradley Drylie of Duncan; and one great granddaughter, Hayley Anne Sexton, of Burleson. Jim has a daughter–in-law, Sheryl and many nieces, nephews and extended family.

Jim was born on Lucky Street and grew up in the little Five Points area of Atlanta. Jim married Montrose Bagley on June 27, 1942. They were married for 67 years. Jim always said they had a “torpedo wedding” after his ship was torpedoed coming into port in Norfolk. They married quickly before he left for continued service in the Pacific during World War II. Jim was in the Navy, but spent the war on merchant marine ships, protecting supplies bound for war areas. Jim spent time in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Mediterranean. He spent part of the war on ships supplying troops and cargo to North Africa. On one of these ships, he was blown off the ship and spent a week with no hearing at all. This led to him being partially deaf most of his life. Jim never talked about the war, but in later years, would tell about various ports he visited including Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, England, and Japan. At the end of the war, he made the decision to go home immediately, rather than go to Japan for the surrender. Unfortunately, those who went to Japan got home a month earlier.

After the war, Jim joined the Atlanta Fire Department, where he worked for 30 years and retired as a captain in 1973. Soon after joining the fire department, his station was called to fight the Winecoff Hotel Fire on December 7, 1946. The Winecoff fire was the deadliest U.S. hotel fire in history, with 119 deaths and 65 injuries. Jim was honored by the Atlanta Fire Department in 2011 as one of only three remaining fire fighters who fought that blaze. During his career he was driver for Chief Hildebrand, was stationed at Fire Station 19 on N. Highland Ave., and retired as captain at the Fire Station at the corner of Roberts Road and Spalding Drive near Dunwoody.

After living in Atlanta for 27 years, Jim and Trosie moved to Dunwoody in 1969. Jim was well known around Dunwoody, seemed to know everyone in the city of Atlanta, and was unofficially the “Mayor of Dunwoody” by many residents. Jim and Trosie built their house in Dunwoody and they dearly loved their many neighbors and watching the children of neighbors grow up. Their granddaughters were the light of their lives; they drove out to Texas many times just to spend time with Amy and Megan. It was a special treat for Jim and Trosie when Megan decided to attend Georgia Tech~those four years were very special to all of them.

James Lester Smith went to be with the LORD on Friday, March 15, 2013 at the age of 92. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to First Baptist Church Sandy Springs to honor his memory.

Springs to honor his memory.