14 November 1913 - 29 April 2017
IN
MEMORY of Pop, Grandfather, and Great Grandfather, and Special Friend
to many….. SMITHERMAN, Lynn Alton November 14, 1913 to April 29, 2017
"We remembered you on what would have been your 104th Birthday,
November 14, and on this Thanksgiving Day 2017 we were especially
thankful for all that you taught us and all the love you gave us those
many years." Lynn Alton Smitherman crossed over in his sleep early the
morning of April 29, 2017 in the quiet of his own home, with daughter
Linda and son-in-law Robert Conant. He lived a century and three
years-a long life full of love, family and incredible changes in the
world. Raised in Texas hill country of Athens, Lynn's moral compass and
sense of life's necessities were shaped by his "Mama and Daddy", two
brothers, a sister and childhood adventures with friends in the woods
along the Corsicana Highway. After high school in 1930 he discovered
more of life's lessons while" riding the rail" and working odd jobs
during the Great Depression. Returning home after a couple of years he
joined Magnolia Petroleum Co. surveying in west Texas and Oklahoma. By
1935 his boss encouraged him to attend college and Lynn found the life
of an engineer--or perhaps it found him. He went to Texas Technological
College with his childhood and lifelong friend Aubrey "Ab" Morgan,
graduating with a degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1939. Lynn went to
work surveying for Petty Geophysical Engineering Co. Using
cutting-edge, ground penetrating seismic and gravity detection
technologies of the day, he and his crew spent long days in the field
across much of the western United States searching for oil and gas
reserves. This career lasted only two years when he decided he should
get his military commitment out of the way. Lynn enlisted in the Army
Signal Corps and as his luck would have it he was just in time for War
II. As a commissioned officer Captain Smitherman served in the European
Theatre after taking courses in radar and microwave at MIT and Harvard.
Many are the stories he shared of his days at Wright Patterson Field,
London, England, and Saint Germain, France. His unit developed
submarine detection technologies placed in B-18 bombers. He also
installed and calibrated the equipment in the field. After D-day, he
was detailed to a small group that was tasked to review and catalogue
German Air Force communication technology in captured Nazi field
offices and laboratories. After he was discharged he went back to work
at Petty until 1952 when he began a 30-plus year career in research and
development with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers. During this time, he
helped advance the uses of radar, microwave communications,
crevasse-detection and other innovations. His slide rule and Texas
Instruments calculator were always just an arm's length away. He
started in Virginia at Fort Belvoir, spent three tours in Greenland,
and moved to Fort Huachuca, Arizona in 1960 where he finally retired
in1973. Lynn's family life was not always easy, but he was a loyal and
dedicated husband and father. He married his first wife Noelle
Elizabeth "Betty" Salt in 1946 and lost her due to pregnancy
complications in 1947. One year later he married Helen Adele "Dell"
Sneed, the widow of his college friend and roommate William R. Selby.
Bill's B-29 was lost over the Pacific during World War II leaving Dell
and a baby daughter. Lynn and Dell raised their daughter Linda in
Texas, Virginia, and finally Tucson, Arizona where they went on to love
and spoil her three children. After Dell's passing in 1979, Lynn began
putting his life in order a second time. Contacting old friends in
Texas he learned that his high school sweetheart, Onita Cole, had lost
her husband. A "40-year gap" plus a year of letter writing and phone
calls saw Onita and Lynn finally married in 1980. They made-up for lost
time by traveling the west, visiting old friends and relatives while
enjoying 20 years of married bliss before Onita passed in 2001. Before
retiring in early 1970's Lynn began building his summer cabin in up in
the White Mountains of Arizona. The town of Alpine near Escudilla
Mountain in ponderosa and aspen forests is where he felt most at home.
Lynn enjoyed all that this haven offered: trout fishing, berry picking,
deer and grouse hunting, winter sledding with his grandchildren and
many adventures with special friends in his Tal-Wi-Wi neighborhood.
"Smitty", as friends called him, had 100 years of stories he loved to
share with anyone who could also reminisce. The other community of
friends was in The Highlands at Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona. For
the last 15 years he took daily walks with a cap on his head and his
golf club converted cane in hand or hanging from his belt. He would
stop to visit with anyone he met, especially if they were walking a
dog. Almost every day, weather permitting, "Smitty" would sit inside
his open garage, feeding quail on the driveway or offering a chair to
any visitor, especially if they brought their canine along. At the time
of his death, his well-thumbed copy of Stephen Hawkins' A Brief History
in Time was near his bedside and his last crossword puzzle lay
completed on his clip board next to his favorite recliner. Outside in
his small raised vegetable garden, bees danced among this year's crop
of turnip greens and garlic as quail drank from a bird bath on the
corner. All unaware. In addition to his daughter, Linda and son-in-law,
Bob Conant, Lynn is survived by his grandchildren, Jennifer Brown,
Patrick Brown, David Lewis and wife, Denise; great-grandchildren,
Brittney Scott, Cody Zenako and Alexandra Lazer. While those around him
welcomed and even anticipated the 104th year of his life, they feel his
relief that he can finally rest.