Herbert Edward Smith Jr.

HERBERT EDWARD SMITH, JR (Ed) passed away on Tuesday, the 15th of April. He was 94 years of age. Ed was born on April 26, 1930 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Ruth Morrison McGaha and Herbert Edward Smith. As a child, their family moved to Dallas, TX. At 13 years old, Ed left Dallas to attend Sewanee Military Academy in Sewanee, TN where he graduated from High School. While at Sewanee, he received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy where he played football, boxed in “The Brigades” and competed on the Naval Academy Pistol Team. After 18 months, Ed transferred to SMU, pledged Delta Kappa Epsilon and graduated in 1953 with a degree in Civil Engineering.

It was at SMU that Ed met Babs Hartung and following an admittedly tempestuous two years of dating, they were married on October 3, 1953 in Houston. They enjoyed a travelling honeymoon (i.e., road trip to see relatives…think “Griswold Family Honeymoon”) while awaiting orders that would begin Ed’s career in aviation. Ed spent five years with Strategic Air Command in the USAF, stationed in Lake Charles, LA. While in the Air Force, he flew KC-135’s, B-52’s and was a member of the Air Force Pistol Team, one of Curtis LeMay’s “pet projects”. Ed resigned from the Air Force in 1958 and attended the University of Oklahoma where he earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. While in graduate school, Ed also worked for the FAA as a test pilot where he gained flight experience (including a mid-air collision) in many additional, often experimental, aircraft. After graduating from OU, Ed parlayed his experience from the Air Force and FAA into a position with the Manned Space Program with NASA and moved his family of four to Houston in 1963.

Ed’s career at NASA included the Gemini, Apollo, Apollo/Soyuz and Space Shuttle programs. The majority of Ed’s work involved educating and training new Astronauts on their mission duties in space, utilizing NASA simulation systems. Due to his time at both the Naval Academy and in the Air Force, Ed became reacquainted at NASA with many old friends including Jim Brickel, Jim Lovell, Buzz Aldrin, Tom Stafford, Don Eisele and others. When prompted over a bottle of wine with friends or at a school or Executive’s Association “Man of the Morning” speaking engagement, Ed would share some of his better “NASA stories”. These included his time while serving as debriefing officer on the USS Wasp for Gemini IV (Jim McDivitt, Ed White, press corps and the Fleet Marines), his unexpected role in the Apollo XIII mission (Lovell, Swigert, Haise), experiences with Russian Scientists and Cosmonauts in both Russia and the United States during the Cold War, as well as numerous adventures involving the development of the Space Shuttle (or “how to make a brick fly”). After 25+ years at NASA, Dad retired but, after a short time, found retirement to be disagreeable to both himself, and particularly to Babs, who adhered to a “for life but not for lunch” daily relationship. This resulted in Ed working for Lockheed for another 10 years as a consultant/program manager.

In Houston, Ed and Babs made a home with their family of Elizabeth (Cissy), Scooter and later Charlie. Every weekday, Ed commuted between Houston and NASA but always managed to be present for fatherly duties as a Cub Scout Leader, little league football coach, committee work at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church or as an ardent fan of school musicals, Glee Club performances, athletic events and even practices. In all his children’s activities, he was an unabashed fan of their teams and individual endeavors.

Ed also loved getting to know his children’s classmates through school sports and fine arts events, Saturday night poker parties and the occasional friends that might show up for dinner from time to time. Ed and Babs always had an open door to their children’s friends, many of whom remained close to Babs and Ed for over 50 years. Ed and Babs also hosted “infamous” New Years Eve parties, complete with champagne, home prepared “high cuisine” and a feature movie that Ed would personally run on a rented reel-to-reel projector (which was entertainment in itself). These parties were held well into their 80’s, lasting into the wee hours (the River Oak Patrol insisted they finally desist, fearing for the 80-year-old guests weaving their way home on NYE).

Since moving to Houston, Ed and Babs have been steadfast members of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church and have loved being a part of the membership for over 60 years where they have made many long-lasting friendships through various church activities and service projects, the Randy Smith Sunday School Class and their LIFT team, which have met regularly over the course of many years. Their faith in Jesus Christ has been of cornerstone of their lives and it allowed both Ed and Babs to meet God without fear.

Only slightly subordinate to his church and family duties, Ed happily managed to remain an ardent fan of “The Big Red” athletic teams of the University of Oklahoma and was President of the Houston OU Alumni Association of Houston. He would delight in reminding his UT friends that before Darrell Royal was a Longhorn, he was an All-American defensive halfback in 1949 for the undefeated University of Oklahoma Sooners.

Ed also enjoyed over 30 years of fellowship with The Executive’s Association of Houston which offered wonderful weekly camaraderie and relationships in his later years.

Ed is predeceased by his beloved bride of over 70 years, Babs, and is survived by his eldest son George M. “Scooter” Smith and his wife, Clare, favorite daughter Elizabeth Smith Curtis and her husband Carl and “the Golden Child” Charles McGaha Smith, his wife, Amanda and her sons Grayson and Ethan; grandsons Weston Edward Smith and his wife Abbie, Christopher Ward Smith and his wife Leighton and great-grandson, Leon Ward Smith. Additionally, our family is forever indebted to Maribel Estrada for her care and attentiveness over the past six months towards Ed and his entire family.

A memorial service is to be conducted at eleven o’clock in the morning on Friday, the 6th of June at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 3471 Westheimer Road in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to join the family during a reception in the Fellowship Hall.