He was born to the late Olian and Mary Smith on April 8th, 1933 in Tipton County, Tennessee. Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his son, Jeffrey Smith; grandson Ryan Michael Smith; and his siblings, Dodds Smith and Milford Smith.
Clifford lived life to the fullest, loved to travel with his family, loved spending time with them, and regularly enjoyed going to the senior center for dancing from bop to ballroom with his wife Shirley. He worked for Pepsi for 13 years while working to obtain his insurance license. Once he received his license, he started working for State Farm and retired after 25 years. While working for Pepsi and even after, the word “Coke” was not spoken in the Smith household. That was considered a bad word. He and his family have an assortment of Pepsi memorabilia from over the years. Each collection unique and different due to Clifford’s Pepsi influence. He had a servant spirit and would do anything for anyone and even for people he did not know. He was a very kind man and never took credit for anything he did. He was just special.
Clifford is survived by his wife of 69 and half years, Shirley Smith; his sons, Cliff Smith, Jr. (Janis), Barry Smith (Tracey); his sisters; Carolyn Johnson (Carl) and Lorry Perkins (Ed), grandchildren, Andrea Billingsley (Kevin), Chad Smith (Melissa), Eric Smith (Claudia), Justin Smith (Jessica), Tyler Smith (Kelley), Ashley Smith; 11 great-grandchildren with one on the way; and 2 great-great grandchildren.
Family will receive friends from 1:00 to 2:00pm on Wednesday, July 21st at Memphis Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, 3700 N. Germantown Rd, Bartlett, TN. Services will follow at 2:00pm. Interment will be at Memphis Memory Gardens, 6444 Raleigh Lagrange Rd, Memphis, TN.
