Mr. Smith was born in Dallas on November 2, 1924. His Father was Lester Andrew Smith, Sr. and his Mother was Frances Welch Smith. His family moved to California shortly after his birth and lived there until 1937, when they moved to Houston. Here he met Lorraine Yvonne Bolinger. She was 10. He was 12. The two married on April 29, 1945 and were wed for 67 years. He attended Sam Houston High School.
After serving as a US Navy Combat Air Crewman in North Africa during World War II, Mr. Smith returned to Houston and worked for Gulf Oil Company for a number of years before going into business for himself as an independent owner/operator of several Gulf Oil Service Stations.
In 1967, he moved his family to Pearland, where he built a home, opened a Phillips 66 service station and later owned a Phillips 66 gas and oil distributorship. He sold his businesses at the age of 58, retired, and lived the rest of his life in Pearland.
He enjoyed many happy years with his Wife, his 4 Children, his 10 Grandchildren, his 16 Great Grandchildren and his 1 Great Great Grandson. He was preceded in death by his Mother, Father and his Grandson, Wayne Olin. He is survived by his wife, Lorraine; son Doug. Smith and his wife, Pam; son Larry Smith and his wife, Sharon; daughter Hazel Olin and her husband, Tommy; daughter Jackie Estes and her husband, Ray; 9 Grandchildren (Kindra, David, Phillip, Kris, Karl, Keri, Andy, Joshua and Adam) ; 16 Great-grandchildren (Jamie, Dillon, Dalton, Joseph, Ella, Heston, Brylee, Bryson, Mikyla, Ashton, Jimmy Wayne, Grace, Caedmon, Mckinley, Aubri and Cooper) ; and one Great-great-grandson (Owen).
In recent years, Mr. Smith suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and he died of complications of the disease on Monday. His family would like to acknowledge all of the amazing caretakers at the Autumn Grove Cottage for the unconditional love and attention that they gave to Lester during his last few years.
Services will be held on Friday, August 3rd at 2pm at Forest Park East Funeral Home and Cemetery, located at 21620 Gulf Freeway, Webster, Texas. A visitation will be held prior to the service, from 12:30PM-2PM. Please feel free to make donations to the Alzheimers Association (alz.org), in lieu of flowers.
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