Robert Carl Smith

On February 15, 2023, Robert Carl Smith went to Heaven to be with his beloved wife, Yvonne, his parents Ruby Carl and Velma Elizabeth Smith, his brother Sonny, and many other family and friends who passed before him. He was 88 years old.

Bob will be remembered for many things—his fierce determination, his ability to take apart and put together just about anything, his love for cornbread in a cold glass of buttermilk. Mostly, he’ll be remembered for being dependable. When a loved one needed help, Bob was going to show up. Whether it was help moving into a new house or building a fence, Bob would be there, tools in hand. Even when his strength started to fade, Bob was a willing (and opinionated) project supervisor. For the final years of Yvonne’s life, Bob was her devoted caretaker, always by her side even when his own health was failing.

The first big decision Bob made as an adult was to leave behind a dream he had for himself—to serve in the Air Force—and return home to help his family in a time of crisis. When Bob was 17 years old, he enlisted and traveled to Denver, Colorado, for airman training. Just a few months later in December 1951, his father, an ironworker, fell while working and died. As the eldest son, Bob asked to be honorably discharged to return home to Alabama to help his mom with his younger siblings.

One day not long after, he walked across the pasture to his longtime sweetheart Yvonne Burkett’s house, knocked on her window, and asked her to marry him. In 1952, Bob and Yvonne said “I do” on Christmas Day. He was 18. She was 16. He got a job as the school bus driver. They finished school together, graduating from Hewitt Trussville High School in 1955. That August, they had their first daughter, Pamela. Bob began work as an ironworker apprentice, and for the next five years, they traveled as a family from job to job across the Southeast. Before Pam entered first grade, they landed back in Birmingham. When their second daughter, Cheryl, was born in 1962, their family was complete.

Over the course of his career, Bob was proud to be part of crews who built the rocket launch site in Cape Canaveral, the Atlanta Braves Turner Stadium, roller coasters at OpryLand, and Duncan Marina Bridge over Smith Lake. He rose through the ranks from an apprentice to foreman, field superintendent, estimator, and finally to vice president, working with Steel City Erection, Ingalls Ironworks, and Superior Rigging and Erecting Co. After he retired, one of his favorite things to do was reminisce about the half century he spent constructing remarkable projects, walking through the sky on steel beams.

With his grandchildren and great grandchildren, he was Papaw, the man who could fix anything—a bad mood or a Barbie doll. Lighthearted around them, Papaw had an infectious laugh. As kids, they loved visiting and staying with him at campgrounds in the hi-lo trailer that was his home away from home when he was on a job site. He taught them how to fish, how to change a lightbulb, how to build bird houses, and in his final years, how to be there for a spouse “through sickness.”

If Yvonne were here, she’d have a lot of stories about her Bobby. She’d tell you he was the most handsome man in any room, tall with dark hair and eyes so blue his fellow ironworkers nicknamed him “Smitty Blue Eyes.” She’d tell you about the time he showed up with a new sports car—a completely impractical thing to do when they had a baby at home. She’d tell you he was a man of God who spent his life in church.

He built so many things over the course of his life, but the most lasting thing will be the memories he left with his family.

Bob is survived by his daughters Pamela Smith Webb and Cheryl Townsend (Scott), his sisters Betty Lee and Gail Lambert, his five grandchildren—Stephanie Spear (Jonathan), Katherine Webb (Russell Hehn), Stephen Webb (Dustin Cañez), Amanda Mills (John), and Austen Townsend (Leah)—and five great-grandchildren—Isla, Jack, Isaac, Audrey, and Frances—and many more family and friends.

Services for Bob will be held on Sunday, February 19, 2023 with a time of visitation will be held at Ridout's Gardendale Chapel in the Fireside at 2:00 PM. Graveside service will be held in Oakwood Memorial Gardens, Gardendale, AL at 3:00 PM.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ridoutsgardendalechapel.com for the Smith family.