Roy "Trae" Smith III

Trae was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on July 1, 1963 to Jean and Roy Smith. Growing up, he loved spending summers with his grandparents in Mississippi being spoiled by his grandmother Maxey with her scratch-made, southern cooking. He became an entrepreneur at an early age when his grandmother found that he was taking corn from their cornfield and selling it on the side of the road.

Trae met the love of his life during his junior year in high school in Arlington, TX. They both attended Lamar High School, and the moment he met her, he knew she was the one. They were married on April 29, 1984 and settled in the Houston area. Three children, Britany, Brooke and Dylan quickly followed.

Trae was a lifer in the shoe business. He grew up working for his family’s shoe store and at the age of 22, he opened his first shoe store, Shoe Express, at Sharpstown Mall in Houston. He then went on to work for Stride Rite becoming the youngest top producing Keds salesman in the country. He won numerous awards and contributed to new style design. In 1998, he went on to support the family business again building the Brighton and Bernardo footwear brands into some of the most popular and coveted shoe brands in the industry. In the last several years, he was hard at work building the Firebug shoe brand, a line of children’s footwear that incorporated an internal illumination technology that he invented and patented. In addition to the shoe business, Trae built and operated two commercial storage facilities in Fort Bend County, serving thousands of tenants over the last ~30 years.

Trae was a creature of habit. You could find him each morning at either Cinnamon’s Bakery or Pacific Coast Taco, picking up his daily coffee and breakfast. He would then set out on the day plugging away at his businesses. In recent years, his health became a top priority. He spent multiple days of the week at the gym and never missed an opportunity to tell his wife how good lookin’ he was getting.

For as much as he worked, he was also a public servant. He volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, Fort Bend Cares, Pilots n’ Paws and Restorative Justice. He was a board member of Christ United Methodist Church and Fort Bend Cares. He was an active member in many clubs including US Inventors, and he co-founded Sugar Creek Conservatives.

To provide a little balance to his life, Trae found time to pursue his passions. In the last 5 years, he accomplished a lifelong dream of becoming a pilot. He was in the air as much as he could be, or he was spending time at the hanger tending to his plane. He was an avid fisherman with a love for bass and fly fishing. He sure loved his family, but he may have loved his dogs more. He routinely took them out on the golf cart in the evenings to run, play and visit with neighbors on the golf course. Sadie girl was the love of his life; Cooper and Poppy were by his side when he met Sadie girl at the gates of heaven.

Trae loved his family fiercely and often spoke to people about how proud he was of his three kids and two grandbabies. Jill was the truest and greatest love of his life.

Trae is survived by his wife, Jill Smith; three children- Britany Keller (TJ), Brooke Smith and Dylan Smith; two grandchildren- Cohen Keller and Luke Keller; his mother- Jean Smith; his sister- Cynthia Smith.

He is preceded in death by his father, Roy Smith Jr.

The memorial service and celebration of life will be held at 11 AM on Friday, December 9, 2022 at Christ Church, 3300 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land, TX 77479. A reception will be held immediately after at the home of Linda and Gary Edmiaston- 623 Chevy Chase Circle, Sugar Land, TX 77478.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Pilots N Paws- https://www.pilotsnpaws.org/donate/