William "Bill" Smith

He leaves behind his Children; Thomas “Smitty” Smith, Margaret “Peggy” Bryant, Anne Byrum, and his Grandchildren: Christian “Angel” Almond, Lisa Anderson, and Steven Bryant. He also leaves behind his Great Grandchildren: Lilah, Lily, and Anna.

Bill was born in Davenport, Washington on June 21, 1924. He lived and was raised in Fairbault, Minnesota. At the age of 13 Bill dropped out of school at the end of his eighth grade to run his uncle’s farm after his uncle was injured in a farm accident. Bill had a way with horses and cattle as well as other animals on the farm. Bill could train animals easily. Bill later worked as a ranch hand on other farms in the area. He worked to help provide money for his family. Bill wanted to join the Navy when WWll broke out, however he was 17 and his mother would not sign for him to go. The Army later drafted him where he was placed into the Army Air Corps and was a radio operator in Mitchell Bombers, he was in the North African Campaign and once was shot down over the English Channel.

Upon return from the Army, Bill stayed and helped his mother for a while, helping to raise his two younger brothers and then took a job in construction. One job was at the Immaculate Conception school in Fairbault, MN where he met his bride to be who was in her senior year. He married Mary Annette Eastman September 29th 1950. He and his bride bought a convenience store and gas station on lake Milac in northern Minnesota.

During a blizzard that kept the community cut off from services and food, Bill and Mary gave away food to help sustain the near Indian tribe and local community. Bill loved to fish and would take the opportunity whenever he could. Due to his bride’s health, they moved to St. Paul, MN. where they settled to raise their family. Bill loved to garden and would grow enough produce to help feed several families and can food for his family as well. Before it was popular, Bill wrote of the benefits of organic gardening and alternative methods of pest control, instead of using pesticides.

He was a member of the Minnesota Horticultural Society in the 1960’s. Bill was a very generous person who would notice a mother with hungry children in a restaurant who were being hushed as they received a drink and told they didn’t have money to eat. He would give the mother money and told to buy themselves a meal and more for later. During their marriage, he and his wife took in 32 adolescent and young adults for different lengths of time, who were having difficulties in their lives. A couple examples are a young woman who was estranged from her husband and had gotten involved with a person who had young people selling magazines and then not paying them as promised. She, with counsel from Bill and Mary later worked things out with her husband and returned home. They also turned the person running the magazine scam into authorities. Another example is a high school senior who was a brother of their eldest daughter’s friend, who had been put out of the house in the middle of winter in Minnesota and was living in his car. Daniel was found and given a home with them for years. Daniel remains close to the family. There are many more examples, from donating produce for the volunteer fire department’s fundraiser to feeding a family of five for a year.

Bill enjoyed hunting, fishing, growing beautiful flowers and would take landscaping jobs on the side. Bill bought an old farm house and sawmill on Lake Eleven in Kroschel, Minnesota that had a 100-year-old dump for a back yard. Bill dredged the lake, filled in the dump and made a sandy beach with a beautiful lush, grassy back yard. Bill would work on this project for years taking his favorite dog “Ditto” with him. Bill was a machinist for John A. Wood Company until they closed their doors and then for Portec Pioneer Company until they moved their factory out of state. Bill and three friends started “Four Way Janitorial” which took commercial and private jobs and eventually had contracts in five states. The partners left the business and Bill became the sole owner. Bill turned this over to his, now deceased son-in-law, upon retiring. Bill took up a unique art of repairing antique frames with intricate scroll or design. Upon the death of the love of his life and bride of 52 years, Bill moved to Tennessee where he missed the ability to fish at any lake and having 10,000 lakes to choose from. Bill loved his grandchildren and has spent all the time he could with his great grandchildren who he loved greatly. He was a joy at Paige Robbins and the people there loved him. He always had a quick comment to any question and loved to joke. He was always the gentleman.

We look forward to the time we will meet again in the next life, to live with our God and Savior for all eternity.