William "Bill" Edward Smith

William E. “Bill” Smith passed away February 16, 2019 at the age of 81. Bill was born November 1, 1937 in Menard, Texas to Juanita and George Smith. Bill is survived by his son George William Smith and Mindy of Oglesby, his daughter Melissa Jo Means and her husband Pete of Nome, Tx , and four grandchildren Seth Means, Rylan Smith and wife Ashley, Corlee Means Raven and husband Clay, and Grayson Smith. He is preceded in death by both his parents, brother Jerry Don Smith, and infant sister Sarah. He is also survived by many loving cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. Services will be held on Friday, February 21, 2019 at 2:00 at Johnsons Funeral Home of San Angelo, Tx. If you would like to make a donation in lieu of flowers, please donate to VFW, 125 S. Browning ST, San Angelo, TX 76903.

Bill was born and raised in Menard, Texas. He graduated from Menard high school in 1955. Following high school he went to SAC (San Angelo College) for a year and worked for GTE for a year. In 1958, he joined the United States Army. Bill, also known as “Smitty” graduated from flight school in 1967 and was assigned to the 191st Assault Helicopter Company at Ft. Bragg, NC where he was deployed to Bearcat, Vietnam. He flew UH-1 Huey lift helicopters. After Vietnam he was a flight instructor until he was deployed again to Vietnam for a second time. He served our country proudly as a pilot for over 17 years and retired a CW4 in 1984. Although Bill would NEVER brag about any of his accomplishments and would say, “I was just doing my job,” some of his awards included the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, 34 Air Medals, Parachutist Badge and Master Army Aviator. After retiring from the military, he moved to be closer to his parents to help with their needs. He found a new talent making custom boots for awhile and then worked as a manager of Bollman Hat company in San Angelo, TX.

Bill was a man of honor, integrity and pride. He was very proud of his kids, but extremely proud of his grandkids. He looked forward to any sporting event he could find. He wasn’t always a spectator as he loved to referee football. He had a passion for it and was known as a tough, fair referee who was well respected by coaches. He always said the highlight of his time as a referee was getting to call the football game in 1996 when Drew Brees led his Westlake High School team to a state championship. He especially enjoyed watching his grandsons and nephews play baseball. With only one granddaughter, he learned to love girls basketball and volleyball too. If he was not able to be there in person to watch his grandkids, his kids had to multi-task while watching and text “Papaw” a play by play. He also enjoyed cooking and was really good at it. Anyone who was fortunate to eat any of his cooking, homemade hot sauce, sweet and hot, or jerky can attest to this.

Bill, Smitty, Pappy, Dad, Uncle, and Papaw will be missed. We appreciate all the love and support from each of you. Thank you from the bottom of ours hearts for being here. We want to especially thank Mike and Patti Decker and Trish Arrington for all of their help during the last year!