William Thomas "Tom" Smith, 93, passed away in his home in Sequim, WA. surrounded by his family, on January 10, 2024. He lived his final five years with advancing symptoms of congestive heart failure although his gratitude and love for family continued growing to the last day.

Tom was born on September 10, 1930, to Barbara and Audie Smith in Oxford, MS. He attended grade school in Amory, MS. and high school in Tupelo, MS. where he played baseball, tennis and football, receiving numerous awards. His contributions to his football team's victory in the 1947 Pecan Bowl earned him the game ball.

Tom went on to Sunflower Jr College (SJC) in Moorhead Mississippi and received many honors. He was Class President, Honor Society president, and captain of the football team. He lettered in tennis, baseball, and track. He joined the National Guard. Tom was Organization Editor for the Retrospect yearbook staff, Vice-president of the YMCA, a member of the Drama Club and Phi Theta Kappa. He was also voted Mr. SJC and Most Popular and later honored in the SJC Sports Hall of Fame.

Tom’s greatest fortune while attending SJC came when he met Helen Marie Poe, whose gifts and talents earned her the role of drum major for the SJC band. Tom’s National Guard unit was mobilized into active service upon graduation in 1950. Tom and Helen, deeply in love and not wanting to be separated, married July 29, 1950, later sharing the news with family. They enjoyed many years, in numerous homes, raising a family, traveling and for all of us they modeled lasting love and devotion having recently celebrated their 73rd year anniversary!   

Tom, thankfully, was never assigned overseas as he rose to the rank of Sargent in the Army medics during the Korean war. Their first child, Lynne, was born in Indianola MS on February 29, 1952. Tom, Helen, and Lynne moved to Starkville, MS where Tom attended Mississippi State University. In 1954 he earned his B.S. in Geology and was awarded the W. A. Tarr Award for the most outstanding graduate in Earth Sciences. They then moved to Columbia, MO. where Tom earned his Master of Science in Paleontology at the University of Missouri. Tom joined Gulf Research and Development Co. in Houston, TX as a Micropaleontologist, where the family lived for one year before being transferred to Pittsburgh, PA where their second child, Cindy, was born, January 23, 1957. The family moved to Casper, WY for Tom’s field work. During this assignment, their third child, Steve, was born in Denver, CO November 22, 1958, after which the family returned to Pittsburgh, PA.

In 1962 Tom was offered a job in Houston, TX with Pan American Petroleum Company, later called AMOCO. This was the family’s last move for 22 years until all three children graduated from high school and college. Tom recounted that the family had moved twenty-seven times in their twelve years of marriage!

Tom was a devoted husband and father throughout his life. Helen recalls times he would leave work and be the medic when the children got hurt playing. Cindy recalls him advocating to restore her access to the pasture behind our house and the horses she loved. Lynne recalls him teaching her to drive in a standard shift car, jerking around as she learned to shift the gears. Tom coached Steve’s little league baseball teams and was as proud of winning the Sportsmanship Award as the league Championship. This inspired Steve to coach all three of his kids’ teams, a tradition that continues today. Recently a former team member wrote that Tom was the best of all of his coaches ever. He and Steve were in Indian Guides together where they built their first canvas canoe in 1969. Tom later built a wood strip fishing boat and then a wood strip canoe. He loved the outdoors and he and Helen took their children camping, fishing, canoeing and visiting various national parks around the country. He worked with bonsai plants, cared for orchids, and consistently fed the birds.

They moved to Hearthstone neighborhood in Houston, TX in 1983 where they lived for twenty-nine years. Here they enjoyed many memorable family gatherings and celebrations with their five grandchildren (and parents). Tom retired from British Petroleum in 1989 and would often remark that he was busier after retirement than he was when he worked full-time! In 2012 they moved to their new country home on daughters Cindy and Darla's land in Cypress, Texas. Seven years later, in 2019, they moved to their final home with Cindy and Darla on five acres of land in Sequim, WA.

Tom's social, political, environmental and religious activism and his scientific, philosophical and religious research and writing began in the 60's and continued throughout his lifetime. Tom was a lifelong learner and became quite progressive in his thinking. He was committed to equal rights for all people; climate/environmental justice; and a universal/cosmological/scientific perspective of philosophy and religion; He donated time, money and writing to many of these causes and organizations, the Sierra Club being where he focused recent donations. Perhaps Tom's character in his final days can best be understood by the following note he visibly placed in his top desk drawer:

"Here lies the body of a very happy person who has been eternally grateful for his life, the lives of all his loved ones, past and present, for the gift of loving and being loved, and for the gift of gratitude, itself. Peace to you, all."

Tom was predeceased by his mother Barbara, father Audie, Brother James Harry and sister Sarah Jo McGregor. He is survived by his wife of 73 years, Helen Poe Smith, daughter Lynne Smith and partner Chris Nichols; daughter Cindy Smith and spouse Darla Thompson; son Steve Smith and wife Jodi Sellars Smith. Grandchildren; Sarah Weil Nichter and husband Eric Nichter, Katherine Weil, W. Clayton Smith and wife Dorothee Irisson Smith; Ryan Smith and wife Kelli Cook Smith, and Jessica Smith. Great grandchildren; Ocean, Eden, Hazel and Willow Nichter, Tommy and Max Smith, and Alice Irisson-Smith. Nephew Lew McGregor.  

Tom's family welcomes and appreciates all donations, made in his honor, to The Sierra Club Foundation or your choice of organizations protecting the environment or serving human needs.

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