Ronald Smith

Ronald (Ronnie) A. Smith was born December 28, 1946, to Walter A. & Irene Vernon Smith of Bryan. The family soon moved to the Cypress Fairbanks area in Houston, TX because of his father’s job as a machinist. As a child Ronnie attended school in the Pasadena School District. He attended Cypress Fairbanks High School where he excelled at the high jump & baseball. He held the record for the high jump at the time of his graduation in1965. His love of baseball began when the Astros were known as the Colt .45s and continued throughout his life. He loved watching every Astros & Texas Longhorn baseball game. Now he & his buddy, Andy Eubanks can cheer them on from their heavenly home, the best seats in the house. Maybe Ronnie can even be the pitcher on the heavenly baseball team.

In February of 1966, Ronnie married Lorene Ticknor. In their 15 years together, they had four children. In 1982, while working for the GTE phone company on the Texas A&M campus he met Brenda Lavender (Luther) where she worked in the Registrar’s Office. They married on December 3, 1983, merging their families of 5 children. The kids & their home in Steep Hollow kept them very busy. In 1999, Ronnie was offered retirement by GTE and was able to retire at the age of 52 after working for over 30 years. He worked hard every day taking care of their property & completing projects. When Brenda was able to retire from Texas A&M after 30 years, they were finally able to take some long-awaited trips. They were blessed with many grandchildren and took great joy in spending time with their family. In 2010, Ronnie was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma and his world was forever changed. Over the next fourteen years, many trips were made back and forth to MD Anderson in Houston. The treatments were very difficult & caused many other health issues. He never gave up hope that maybe one day, they would say he was cured. In the end, it was not the cancer but other health issues that caused his death. Ronnie is now resting in the arms of Jesus, free from his pain & suffering. He is now healed through his faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

He leaves behind the love of his life, his wife of Forty Years, Brenda, his daughters and sons in laws, Pamela & Brad Beard, Angela & Donnie Tussey, Jackie & Brad McPherson, sons and daughter in laws Ken & Tammy Luther, and Chris Luther, his brother Paul and sister in law Margie Smith, grandchildren Ryan, Jacob & Emma Beard, Dylan & Ellie Tussey, Tyler, Braden & Maddie McPherson, and Courtney Luther, brother-in-law, Gilbert Lavender & wife, Patsy, brother-in-law, Raymond Lavender, sister-in-law, Josie Lavender plus numerous nieces & nephews, cousins & friends.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Walter & Irene Smith, his son Clinton, his in-laws, Cecil & Lucile Lavender, sister-in-law Delores Knighton & husband, Jack & brother-in-law, Robert Lavender.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Country Fellowship Church, PO Box 1186, Bryan, Tx 77803 or Hospice Brazos Valley, 502 W 26th St, Bryan, TX, 77803.