Scott M. Smith

Scott M. Smith was born on August 8, 1946 in San Antonio, Texas, the first child of Henry C. Smith and Clora Mae McCauley Smith. He died on March 3, 2015 in Austin, Texas at Christopher House after being diagnosed with cancer in 2003. He faced this phase of his life in a spirit of calm analysis consistent with the way he faced everything in his life. He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Bonnie Coleman; his brother Rodney Smith and wife Sandi; his sister Jean Weaver; nephews and nieces Shane Smith, Samantha Meek, Aimee Smith, Cody Smith and Jamie Smith; plus numerous designated nieces and nephews. Trey, Marlo, Jackson, Stephanie, William and Sarah, you know who you are.

In the fall of 1964 Scott entered the University of Texas (Austin was the only campus then) majoring in Electrical Engineering after graduating from MacArthur High School in San Antonio. He graduated from UT with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with Honors in January of 1969. Before he graduated he began working for Texas Instruments part time at their location on North Lamar Blvd. He was hired by TI as a full-time employee after graduation and worked there until 1975. His time at TI was interrupted for a 2 year stint in the US Army. In the Army he served at Langley in Virginia and was able to finish his Master's Degree at the University of Maryland. From 1975 to 1978 he worked for the University of Texas Applied Research Labs on projects related to underwater acoustics as applied to submarines. In 1978 he went to work for IBM in Austin and worked there until he retired in 2009. While he was at IBM he worked on graphics processors and adapters. He later became certified as a Project Manager to complete his career.

From high school on he was involved in sports of many sorts - basketball, martial arts, racquet ball, cycling, running, sailing, snow skiing, autocross, c/w dancing, showing dogs, and high speed driver's education. In each case he worked, studied, and practiced to develop his skills and perfect his technique just as he had in his professional life. On a ski trip to Aspen in January of 1984 Scott met Bonnie Coleman. After a whirlwind romance of 4 years they married in January of 1988. It was good. Twenty-seven years is a good run - not nearly enough. Our first sports hobby together was sailing. Friends had bought a 30' race boat and were learning to race on Lake Travis out of the Austin Yacht Club. We started in the spring of 1987 with the goal for the season 'to finish with our fleet'. By the Fall of 1993 when the Mayfields sold 'Lowrider' we were consistent contenders for first place with Scott as the spinnaker flier. Besides racing there were many cruising evenings and the Annual August Birthday Cruise. We came back to racing in April of 1996 and sailed until we sold the Capri 25 we purchased with the Mayfields and dubbed "Plum Crazy" in April of 2005. On "Lowrider" we had been known as 'the purple gang' and we wanted our reputation to be 'those guys are just plum crazy - don't mess with them'. Our racing rules were (1) Nobody gets hurt (2) The boat doesn't get hurt (3) Everybody has fun (4) If we had a bad day finish whining before we get back to the dock.

Overlapping with sailing and cars was country and western dancing. We started taking lessons and were dancing 3 or 4 nights a week - 2 nights of class and 2 more out socially. We started going to competitions to watch. Then we began to think about competing … this was not the best idea we ever had so we stopped competing and kept dancing.

There has always been a dog in our home. Then we fell in love with the Doberman side of a large black dog who came to us 'temporarily" and stayed 11 years. In February of 2004 'Jade' came to live with us. We had never been to a dog show and had no intention of showing her although she had 2 or 3 points toward her AKC Championship. One day after coming back from a walk through the neighborhood Scott said "I never take her for a walk that someone doesn't stop me to say how beautiful she is. Maybe we aren't letting her live out her destiny if we don't show her." I was stunned. We took her to Longview for our first show in August and in October Alisa Brotherhood showed Jade at Doberman Nationals in Conroe, Texas. She took third in her class of 60 red females. She really is beautiful even at her current age or 11 and yes she did finish her AKC Championship. We have since had the companionship of three other Dobes and our extended family that are 'related by dog'. We have travelled to Scottsdale, New Orleans, Wichita, Dallas, FT. Worth, San Antonio, Lafayette, Monroe, Little Rock, Corpus Christi, and lots of other less noted places for dog shows. We became active in the local Greater Austin Doberman Pinscher Club serving as a board member and as president, and the Doberman Pinscher Club of America. It has always been fun to be with the dogs and the people who love them.

Scott has always had a sports car and loved autocross. He was active in SPOKES car club in Austin in the 1970's and helped put on and participate in numerous autocross and hill climb events in his Fiat X19. In 2004 he purchased a Porsche Boxter S Anniversary Edition. It was his 'Precious'. When he went to his first Porsche Club event he was hooked. Really neat people, lots of fun family oriented events, and CARS. Really great CARS. Hill Country Region Porsche Club of America was the perfect place for Scott to focus his attention in the past 5 years serving on the board of directors for several years as treasurer. He loved participating in the high speed drivers education events at Texas World Speedway because he was learning to perfect his technique and driving skills on a really interesting track. He found an app that let him mount his phone on the windshield and it recorded his speed and other details as he went into and exited turns and showed him the line he took thru the turn. Then he could discuss with all of the other track rats if that was the correct line. For Scott - Heaven!

In everything he did Scott strove for perfection but knew when it was time to go ahead and do something. Then he would continue to work toward perfection. He was the consummate scientist. (This trait could be frustrating to those around him who were not so analytically oriented.) Scott was the calm voice in the middle of any storm of differing opinions or personalities. Scott was a kind and honorable man who could step back, consider the situation and assist all parties to come to a solution. Truly he knew how to be a good friend and trusted confidant. Those two things alone made him a wonderful husband.

Services for Scott will be celebrated at St. Matthews Episcopal Church at 8134 Mesa Drive in Austin, Texas at 11:30am on March 14, 2015 with interment of ashes and a reception at the church following the service.

Please, no flowers to the church, since it is the Lenten season and they will have to be removed following the service.

The family suggests the following charities:

The Memorial Hermann Foundation

Attn: Dr. Robert Amato and The Cancer Center at Memorial Hermann

Texas Medical Center

929 Gessner, Suite2650

Houston, TX 77024

or online: www.memorialhermann.org/donate

Habitat for Humanity

austinhabitat.org

The Permanent Endowment Fund for St. Matthews Episcopal Church