Photograph

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.