Roy Elijah Smith

Roy Elijah Smith was the first baby born of a set of twins, on Oct. 8, 1925, at home in Spokane, Wash., to Frank and Lulu Smith. His brother, Troy Elisha, was born 15 minutes later. The twins were the youngest in a family of six children.

As a young man, Roy committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ.

He met and married Virginia Bowerman on Jan. 20, 1944. They had three sons: Bill, Dale and Gerry. Some years later they were blessed with a little baby girl named Shawnee, through adoption.

As a young husband, Roy worked for Power City for several years. Most of his work involved climbing power poles and working on the high lines out at Fairchild Air Force Base. His brother, Clifford, had a terrible accident which resulted in the loss of his limbs while in the same line of work.

Roy decided to go to work for General Telephone Company. He was an installer and did special apps. One of his most interesting assignments was to set up the phone lines out at Farragut State Park for the Boy Scout Camp. After 30 years of working for GTE, he retired.

Roy was very gifted as an artist. He loved to paint pictures of birds. He also loved to go camping and hunting and fishing. He enjoyed his family and managed to keep them laughing with his jokes and dry humor.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia; sons Dale and Gerry; his brothers Troy, Harry, Bill and Clifford; and sister, Donna. He is survived by his son, Bill, and daughter, Shawnee Medlock (Mike), and daughter-in-law, Tina Welch (Michael). He is survived by his grandchildren: Angela Smith, Melody Koolstra, Heidi Cochran, Ryan Smith, Matt Smith, Stan Smith, Dustin Medlock, Darrin Medlock and Melissa Hayes. He is also survived by numerous great-grandchildren.