William Earle Smith

On the evening of April 2, 2023, Bill passed away peacefully. Bill was being visited and comforted by family members at the Methodist Willowbrook Hospital in Houston, TX at the time of his passing. Bill was 71 years old.

Bill was born in Dallas, TX on June 5, 1951, the first child of Shirley Jean (McGarvey) and Richard Earle Smith, but grew up in Arlington, TX where he enjoyed cars and rock n roll music. He was active in Junior Achievement in high school. After graduating from Sam Houston High School, he studied at the University of Texas at Arlington where he earned an Associate Degree. He then took a job at Brown and Root in Houston, TX as a draftsman. Soon thereafter, he married the love of his life, Claudia Callaway, and they had 2 children, a son, Matthew and a daughter, Rachel. After spending several years at Brown and Root, he moved to Honeywell where he worked for more than 30 years.

He earned the Black Belt in Six Sigma in his professional career. He also returned to school to earn his Bachelor's Degree and then his Master's Degree while he was working at Honeywell.

Bill had many hobbies and interests during his life.

He practiced karate and kendo for many years achieving the rank of Sixth Degree black belt. He was designated as a member of the World Kendo team representing the USA in Canada. He traveled to Japan several times practicing in many dojos and meeting many Sensei’s. He was an assistant instructor and instructor at the Houston Budokan during his martial arts career. He was also adopted into the Chiba Family in Japan as a Hatamoto in 1979.

Bill spent hours on his bicycle participating in several long-distance rides including the Hotter N Hell 100-mile ride in Wichita Falls, TX. After he tired of pedaling, he moved to motorcycles when he bought his first Honda Gold Wing and six months later rode to California and back with Claudia. They took many vacations on their Gold Wing to the western states including riding as far as Montana. Bill and a friend even rode the Iron Butt Challenge (1000 miles in 24 hours).

Bill was a member of HALS (Houston Area Live Steamers) for many years where he served as President for several of those years. Bill loved steam trains and he and Claudia rode many of the historic steam trains around the country. As he matured, he really enjoyed the BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair) Wednesdays out at Zube Park with his buddies.

Bill was also a pistol enthusiast. He liked target shooting and was quite good at it. He always looked forward to going to the shooting range on Thursdays with his good friend, Darrell Craig.

Bill was also a member of the Woodlands Photography Club. He loved learning about the technology of photography even more than actually taking the photos.

Bill's son is a basketball coach at Barber's Hill High School and Bill was considered the team grandfather for the basketball teams where he attended almost every home game.

Bill was preceded in death by his father, Richard Earle Smith; his grandmothers, Monica (McNeff) Wilson and Zula (Kincannon) Smith; his grandfathers, Lawrence McGarvey and James Eugene Smith; and nephew, Richard Anthony Smith.

Bill is survived by his wife of 50 years, Claudia (Callaway) Smith; mother, Shirley Jean (McGarvey) Smith; son and spouse, William Matthew Smith and Anne Schellhase; daughter and spouse, Rachel Lauren (Smith) Woodall and Daren Woodall. Brothers James Lawrence Smith and Steven Richard Smith. Also,

five grandchildren – Riley Evan Woodall, Mia Shea Woodall, Landon Chase Smith, Jordan Reece Smith & Emma Grace Woodall. Bill is also survived by his mother-in-law. Elna Rose Callaway and brother-in-law and wife, Billy Callaway and Victoria (Matthijetz) Callaway along with several nieces and nephews.

The family wants to let friends know about philanthropic opportunities that Bill would be interested in.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to HALS (Houston Area Live Steamers) at P.O. Box 215, Hockley, TX 77447 or [email protected] .

Or

His short illness was due to complications of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

This happens to be a unique area of research at the AdventHealth Translational Research Institute in Orlando, FL.

Bill was a clinical research participant earlier in his life and the family believes he would enthusiastically support this research. Please consider making a donation in his memory to advance this important clinical science at https://give.adventhealth.com/fundraiser/4585531