My Dad, Bobby Smith
Robert Lee Smith
December 4, 1930 - August 23, 2006
Bobby 12/24/99
Dad & Me (Both age 18)
Dad & Me 7/97 Dad (age 33) Me (age 3)
Historic Summerville Presbyterian Church. Chartered in 1811 and built in 1845-46, the church is maintained in its original architectural design and is the oldest building in Harnett County still used for its original purpose. The adjoining cemetery contains the grave of a mysterious stranger found dead beside the church steps. The church is located on old Highway 421, three miles southwest of Lillington and is open to the public.
The Daily Record
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Robert 'Bobby' L. Smith, 75
Robert "Bobby" Lee Smith, 75, of Lillington died Wednesday,
Aug. 23, 2006, at Betsy Johnson Regional Hospital in Dunn.
He was a native of Harnett County and was the son of the late
Louis B. and Flora Black Smith. He was preceded in death by
his wife, Utha Freeman Smith; and a brother, Roosevelt Smith.
Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Friday at O'Quinn-Peebles
Funeral Home by the Rev. Bob Compton. Burial will be at
Summerville Presbyterian Church Cemetary.
Survivors include daughters, Bonnie Clark Weatherford of
Clayton, Vickie Brown of Mamers and Robbie Cannaday of
Olivia; sons, Kenneth Smith and Timothy Smith, both of
Coats; sisters, Lillian Moore and Virginia Upchurch, both of
Broadway, Christine Vinson of Autryville and Vivian Smith of
Lillington; a brother, James Lewis Smith of Lillington; several
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be Friday from 1 to 2 p.m. at the funeral home.
The Dreamer
The Dreamer dreams on more, no more
for now he sleeps by the sycamore.
A sleep unbroken by those above
who cry for a memory of life and love.
Cry not for the Dreamer who is no more
he won't sleep forever by the sycamore.
On streets of gold you'll meet anew
in a heavenly kingdom he waits for you.
By Bonnie Lee W.
My father was a good man. The kindest, most gentle man I have ever known. In all
of my life, I never once heard him raise his voice in anger nor raise his hand
against man or beast. He was a good father and an even better grandfather.
He was poor in wealth for he would help anyone who asked for help, even a
stranger. If it required the shirt from his very back, he gave it. Though poor in
wealth, he was rich in the things that mattered most. Love, family, friends and
wisdom. His friendships lasted lifetimes. Everyone knew that he was a man who
could be trusted and depended on.
Dad was a hard worker and always looking for a way to do better. He didn't mind
getting his hands dirty either. There are some who will remember his days as a
grease-pit mechanic at a long gone gas station. There are others who will
remember him from his many years with Champion Homes. Some of his work Dad
really enjoyed. Like really getting into the motor of a car. In his later years he wasn't
able to do much of that. For awhile there, his backyard was so full of cars waiting
for repairs, he could have won Redneck Yard of The Month. But who really cared if
it made him happy.
I'm sure many of us can recall his famous homemade wine. I doubt there's many of
us around our town who haven't at least tasted it. Dad could do magic too. He had
a healing power that many of you may have forgotten or not known about. I
remember as a child the embarrasement of having the fingers of both of my hands
covered in warts. Dad did his little hoodoo magic and soon after, all of my warts
disappeared never to return. That proves to me that there is magic in the world just
as there was magic in my Dad.
Dad had another kind of magic too. He had a wonderful sense of humor and loved
to make people laugh. He also had a heart capable of much love and shared it with
many. He was married to the same woman for over fifty years and cared for her
during her sickness without a word of complaint. Her loss took a lot of the life out
of him.
How do you share nearly 76 years of someone's life in a few words? I guess I will
just repeat again that he was a good man though not an angel. It says in the bible,
"Let he without sin cast the first stone". My father was not without sin and not
without his faults just like the rest of us. Yet he would never have cast that first
stone or any stone and it hurt him deeply that others could do so to him. There are
some who for reasons of their own would have us doubt Dad's goodness. All I can
say is that it is their own loss and that evidently, they didn't know the real Bobby.
Those of us who really knew him, knew him well and there's an empty space in our
hearts now that Dad's love use to fill.
Dad's Favorite Things & a few memories.
Mayonaise. About 2 big heaping tablespoonfuls on his every dinner plate.
Sweet Tea. When I was a little girl, he would take one of those large restaurant sugar containers & hold it over his glass while it poured & poured the sugar into his glass. I was always amazed at how long he'd hold it there.
Chocolate Malted Milk Ball Candy. By the box. Mandarin Oranges. Everytime I see them in the store, I think of you Dad.
(Guess that's where I get my love of mayonaise, chocolate, sugar & sweet southern tea from)
Johnny Cash. Especially the song, 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken'.
Metal Detectors & Treasure Hunting. He made his own machines. Had one you held in one hand that had a little cup on the end. Whatever you placed in the cup, the detector would point to whether it was gold, silver, copper or even paper money. Makes me think he might have been a bit of a diviner, like a water diviner. He loved those treasure hunting magazines.
Reading. Anything & Everything.
(Yep, guess I was destined to be a reader & possibly a writer what with both parents loving the written word so much)
Working on cars. The old models like he grew up with. Could take one apart & put it back together again, better than new.
So much that he loved was visual & losing his sight took away much of life's pleasures.
I remember when Dad was healthy, in the summer he'd keep the house a/c so cold, you could almost see your breathe. I would walk in & exclaim, "Daddy, it's snowing in here!"
A funny. One day I picked him up & took him uptown to talk to a mechanic at a local shop. We were standing there waiting for the man & it struck me. I looked at Dad, then looked at myself. There we both stood, side by side leaning against the wall. Dad & I both were wearing dark blue lined men's parka coats & dark sunglasses. Totally unplanned.
On the weekends when I was little, he would take me & Mom to Sue's Diner in Dunn for a meal. I was treated like a little princess there & never forgot the man who owned it and who was also one of the Dunn Clowns. Sadly, Sue's is long gone too.