Marvin L Smith

He is survived by his sons Marvin Smith III and wife Pat of Austin, Stanley Smith and wife Ann of Odessa and his daughter Liz Shelton and husband Mike, of Odessa. Others that will miss him very much are ten grandchildren; Jessica Bermes, Marvin Smith IV, Ellen Smith, Reed Smith, Sam Smith, Dan Smith, Nathen Bieber, Christie Bieber, Austin Shelton, Perry Shelton and finally his beloved brother, Bill Smith of Corinth Texas.

Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years ago and never being one to feel sorry for himself, he launched a full scale attack on the disease by educating himself spending many hours researching the disease to find out what he could eat, what medications were effective and what lifestyle changes he could make to beat it as long as he could. The love of his life, his wife of 62 years, Estee Smith, recently passed away and the loss was the most devastating event of his life. They are now back together where they both want to be.

Marvin graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Botany and while choosing not to pursue a career in the field, he had a true green thumb and a love for planting and nurturing his many gardens, yards and orchards over the years. Dad believed that being a good salesman was the key to business success and started out as a traveling shoe salesman after marriage to Estee May 1, 1948. As a captain in the Marine Corps, he was called back to duty at Virginia Beach, Virginia in 1952 where they had their first son, was discharged in 1953 and moved to Odessa where he, his mother and his brothers founded Capitan Drilling Company. He loved the oil business and West Texas and it’s people. Over the years, he built many of the shopping centers in Odessa and earned a reputation as being fair and honest in his business life.

In 1970, Marvin bought and moved to the first of several ranches that he would acquire near Midkiff, Odessa and Midland. Until his retirement from the drilling company in 1981, he loved living and working at the Midkiff ranch so much that he commuted the 100 miles roundtrip each day and would work before dawn and after sunset and weekends with Estee. He made many friends of the wonderful people in Midkiff. After moving back to Odessa in the mid-80’s, he not only continued to ranch but managed his real estate and continued expanding his businesses. He only quit going into the office on a daily basis within the last year and a half when his Alzheimer’s worsened.

Marvin was a long time member of the First United Methodist Church of Odessa and while not active in many civic organizations, he helped many individuals behind the scenes with encouragement, money and time. Being a modest man, he never sought or wanted recognition for his good deeds.

It would be hard to count the number of friends Marvin made over his life because people found it easy to like and trust him. He had an enormous amount of common sense and his advice and wisdom was sought after and freely given constantly. He used that gift and unfailing support for his family and we are all very grateful for what we learned from him and the help that he gave us all to become better people.

Family will receive visitors from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday, July 22, 2010 at Frank Wilson Funeral Directors. A Memorial service will be held 10:00 a.m. Friday, July 23, 2010 at First United Methodist Church with Rev. Terry Tamplen officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Home Hospice of Midland 901 W. Missouri Midland, Texas 79701.

Services are entrusted to Frank W Wilson Funeral Directors.