Joshua Avery Smith Jr.
NOTES:
From his obituary:
A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday, Aug.26, at 3 p.m.at
the family
farm on Dun Swamp Road for Joshua Avery Smith Jr., 77, who died at his
Pocomoke City home on Saturday, Aug. 19, of cancer. Officiating will be
the Rev. Hillary Bercovici.
Born in Irvington, N.J., he was a son of the late Joshua Avery Smith
Sr.
and Kathleen Thomas Smith. His wife, Elma Clark Smith, died in 1985. He
was a graduate of Wagner College, Staten Island, N.Y.
Smith and his family came to Pocomoke City in 1946. Transferred here
from
the Manhattan, N.Y., office of General Foods Corp., he served as Office
manager and chief accountant until his retirement in 1965.
He was a member of St. Mary's Episcopal Church and served on the
Vestry.
He was Sunday School superintendent for 20 years and he and his entire
family were members of St. Mary's choir. He was a current member of the
Advisory Council of the Pocomoke City Salvation Army Youth Club and a
member
of the Delmarva Peninsula Golf Association.
Known as "Mr. Golf" throughout Delmarva, Smith spent more than 40 years
teaching the game to the young people of his adopted community and was
the founder of theWinter Quarters Junior Golf Team. He started the
first
boys basketball club in Pocomoke in 1946 and was one of the founders of
the Pocomoke Little League in 1953. He was a member of both the
Nassawango
Golf and Country Club and the Winter Quarters Golf Club.
He was honored at a testimonial dinner on June 9 of this year in
recognition
of his devotion to youth and good sportsmanship. Many of his former
proteges
who are now community leaders, testified to his influence on their
early
lives. An annual Avery Smith Athletic Scholarship has been established
at Pocomoke High School in his memory.
Surviving are six children, David Smith, Durham, N.C., Mrs. Kathleen
Linville,
Crofton, Md., Joshua Avery Smith III, Hartford, Conn., Mrs. Margaret
Wagner,
Cleveland, Ohio, Jonathan Smith, Louisville,. Ky., and Christopher
Smith,
Coventry, Conn.; two sisters, Charlotte S. Mills and Dorothy A.
Campbell,
both of. Jamesburg, N.J.; two brothers, Robert A. Smith of Keene, N.H.,
and Norwood T. Smith of Staten Island, N.Y.; 20 grandchildren; eight
great-grandchildren;
and several nieces and nephews.
A note from Joe: If there is one consistent image I get, it's
that
Dad grew up in a child-oriented, noisy, typical Smith family, partly
because
there was no heavy-handed Dad (Josh I) to keep things in line, but also
because neither Josh I or Kathleen had positive "Dads" to rely on for
role
models. It used to drive Aunt Suze crazy, and by contrast, she was very
anal, controlling, everything in its place. She was shocked by the
freedom
of the Smith kids.