Lewis Smith

Lewis Smith of Wayne County Tennessee, Toledo Ohio, and finally Perrysburg Ohio, was a generous man who loved to tell stories. If you were his neighbor, you had a friend the day after he moved in. He would come over as soon as he saw you outside and introduce himself. He was kind, friendly and honestly, the guy you wanted to live next to because nobody was going to touch your house and him not see it and tell you. If he shoveled his walk, and you were at work, he would do yours too so you could get in when you got home. If he grew tomatoes, you got all you wanted. He believed that people are supposed to help each other and he lived that well. If you asked to borrow his chain saw, he would say “yep lets go find it”. While you went to get it, he would tell you about how he, his dad Hugh Smith and his eight brothers used to be loggers up in the hills of Lutts Tennessee. (His mom Eddie Pearl and his two sisters did house work). He would point out that they used a handsaw and a mule to pull trees out to be loaded onto the truck and taken to the mill. That story would remind him of the last time he went into the woods with his dad to put out small fires after a storm. His oldest Sister and the six older boys were already moved out and married, in the military or both. He was sixteen and had just gotten his first paycheck. He bought new clothes with half the money and put the other half under his mattress. He and his dad saw smoke coming from the direction of their house and ran for home. When they got there, the house was gone (burned down) and his mother Eddie Pearl (White) was sitting on the porch across the road with two of his three younger siblings. Both were badly burned. Lewis drove the family 50 miles to the hospital in Savannah Tennessee where the doctor gave them Morphine. His brother Leonard drove them to Nashville where they were treated for third degree burns. That was the last day the family lived all together. He would tell you that is how he ended up coming to Ohio to stay with his brother. While he was here, he met his bride Barbara Marie Brown. The two married, and had six kids. Anyway, when you brought the chainsaw back to him, you would see the giant picture of his kids in the doorway. You would not be able to hide the fact that you were looking at it because it is huge. He would look at that picture with a twinkle in his eyes and tell you that Lewis Junior (Kathy) is retired from the Airforce and has two kids and two grand kids. Linda (Frank)Smith is a substitute teacher in Tennessee and she has three kids and six grandkids. Connie (Cory) DeWees had five kids, and ten grandkids. Sadly we lost her in 2019. Cheryl (Bill) Winzenburg is a teacher has two kids and five grandkids. Robin (Jeff) Kipplen runs a daycare and has two kids and four grandkids. And Teresa McCormick is a nurse has four kids. He would smile the biggest smile (those dimples would get you smiling right back at him) and tell you that every one of them are good people and that he wouldn’t change a single one of them. (For those of you trying to add it up, that’s 18 grandkids, 27 great grand kids.) When you went with him to put the chain saw away, he would show you his cars. Maybe the Buick. Maybe the Thunderbird or the Truck, but you would definitely see them. That would lead to a story about car shows and travelling with the car club. His dog Susie would bark from the window and you would get stories about her, or Daisy or Pug. You might even get a glimpse of the precision tools in his workbench and hear about how he became a Die maker at Ronfeldts Associates where he worked for 40 years three months and two days. He was pleased to tell stories of having to teach the guys that went to college to be a die maker. He never told them that he had to drop out of school after the 4th grade but it was impressive to think about. He lost his bride in 2014 and, after that, he did what he wanted when he wanted to do it. He took his pup Susie with him just about everywhere, but their favorite place was in the recliner napping together. He kept it a secret that he had cancer until a week before he passed. He had a short stay in the hospital and then went home to his recliner and his beloved dog. He left us on August 4, 2021 at 6:06 pm at the end of his final nap. We will miss his stories. We will miss his smile. We will continue his legacy of love, acceptance, learning, and hard work. And we will tell his story. Family and friends will be received on Sunday, August 8, 2021 from 4:00 P.M. until the time of service at 7:00 P.M. at Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, 501 Conant St., Maumee. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.walkerfuneralhomes.com.