Thomas Harold Smith Sr.

Thomas Harold Smith Sr. of Glencoe died at his home on February 13, 2026, at the age of 100 after a protracted illness. A visitation will be held at Collier-Butler Funeral Home on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at 11:00am. The Service will begin at 11:30 with Bro. Donny Yarbrough the Pastor of First Baptist Church of Glencoe, officiating. Eulogies will be delivered by his nephew Wayne Smith and his grandson Joseph York. A Private family interment will be at the Mausoleum at Crestwood Cemetery immediately after the service.

Harold is preceded in death by Lurlene Brown Smith, his wife of 71 years: his parents Mattison Griffin Smith and Nancy Akridge Smith; his son Thomas Harold (Hal) Smith Jr.; his grandson Dr. Jake Adam York; and his siblings James (Geneva) Smith; Pauline (Robert) Love; Charles (Betty) Smith.

Harold was born and raised in Southside on the family farm. He joined the United States Navy just weeks before he graduated high school in 1944. After Basic training he was assigned to the USS New York, “The Gray Ghost of the Pacific”. He saw action on the pacific front ass the New York transported Marines to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. His ship was targeted by Japanese suicide pilots but with minimal damage to the ship. He was honorably discharged in 1946. His service in World War II is honored by an embossed brick in a courtyard of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, La.

After he returned from naval duties, he met and married Lurlene, moved to Glencoe and began his forty-year career with the gas company, cumulating as supervisor of commercial/ industrial ALAGASCO clients in a territory that included Gadsden, Anniston, Auburn-Opelika, and the gas well in Fayette County.

Harold was active at First Baptist, Glencoe where he was a member for over 70 years and served as deacon, Sunday School Director, and sometime song leader. He was very involved in the VFW Lodge 10408 and always helped placing the flags in the median of US 431 during patriotic and civic holidays. He served as lodge quartermaster for many years. He was also a mason and received his 70th year membership recognition pin. He was inducted into the Etowah County Patriots Hall of Honor in 2012 and excitedly traveled to the World War II Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC as part of the Honor Flight Program. As a service to his community, he was involved with Meals on Wheels and was a member of the board of Directors of the Glencoe Senior Center. He was an avid golfer playing at the Links at Briarmeade from his early thirties until he was 91. He had 5 holes-in-one during his golfing years. He discovered that aging made it easier to play his age- from his early 70s until his early nineties.

Harold is Survived by his daughter, Dr. Linda Smith York and her husband David York; his grandson Joseph Aaron York, his wife Kathryn and their children Emma Rose and Herschel Adam from Water Valley. MS, and many nephews and nieces.

The family wishes to thank Harold’s caregivers who cared for him with knowledge, experience, love, and compassion. Thank you to Linda, Reana, Peggy, and Teresa, his housekeeper Liz, and the Compassus Hospice Staff. We hold you all in our hearts.