Carl “David” Smith was born in South St. Louis, Missouri on March 4, 1936, to William Carlisle (Carl) and Nell Mary Smith. He passed at the Missouri Veterans’ Home, St. Louis, on May 13, 2020.

After serving as a sheet metal assembler for 9 years in the Air Force during the Korea Era, he went to live with his parents in Evansville, Indiana, and began working at Sears, Roebuck and Company, where he met his future wife, Janie Raben.

David first caught Janie’s eye on “Western Get-up Day,” when he was the only employee in the store who participated in dressing up . His attire included chaps, a gun and holster, bandana and cowboy hat, all leftover from his teenage days in Tuscon. The next time that Janie noticed him, he was in the break room eating a peanut butter and lettuce sandwich and, upon her inquiry, explained that the water in the lettuce make the peanut butter easier to swallow. It was a second testiment to his ingenuity.

Marrying in 1968, they moved to St. Louis, where David worked at JC Penney for 32 years. David and Janie have three daughters, Monica Dickens (Kevin), Gretchen Williams (Clarence, deceased) and Alexis Miano (Nick), seven grandchildren, Andrew Dickens (Bonnie), Connor Dickens, Nathan Dickens, Nell Williams, Grant Williams, Salvador Miano and Louis Miano and two great-grandchildren, Mathew Dickens and Hunter Dickens. He and Janie enjoyed “ Grandma and Grandpa Day” weekly excursions with their grandchildren, taking in the many wonderful adventures that St. Louis provides: fossil hunting, geocaching, fishing, the zoo, Magic House, Turtle Park, etc.

David was a server and fixer. His volunteering included being a handy man at the Family Care Center of Carondelet, fifteen years, a Eucharistic Minister at St Mary’s Hospital, serving meals at Karen House ( Catholic Worker Home), donating, what he described as’ “gallons of blood” to the American Red Cross and working in the canteen, feeding the fish and watering the plants at the Missouri Veterans Home, St. Louis. He especially loved working within his Birnamwood community and giving the neighborhood environment and neighbors a helping hand. In his early days, he was nororius for picking up hitch-hikers, because he was often the receipient of an offered ride while in the Air Force. He rarely passed by anyone along the road who was having car trouble or had had an accident.

His interests and hobbies were varied and many. He created walking sticks for countless relatives and friends, many from old tobacco, drying sticks that he retrieved from his grandfather’s barn. His garage time was sacred and, although he rarely threw anything away, he rearranged his possessions within it frequently He gathered, sawed, split and stacked wood for his beloved woodstove, loved attending yard sales and thrift shops with his daughters, visiting a “mom and pop” hardware store, listening to and playing music, particularly his harmonica, drawing, fishing, playing bingo, cards and dominoes, renovating houses, bar-b-queing, watching mafia movies and slap stick comedy and telling jokes. He was a devoted Catholic and appreciated people of all cultures, their food and religions. He loved a good meal with an accompanying dessert. Some of his favorate eating spots were: St. Raymond’s Lebanese Church luncheons, Gus’ Pretzels, and Twin Oaks Dairy Queen ( a first proud customer). He loved a good burger, pizza. Switzer Licorice, orange Circus Peanut candy and sushi. He had an uncanny connection to nature that included the ability to coax a black snake out of the house by talking to it. On another occasion, he told of a bird landing on his shoulder while he was bar-b-quing, to which he said, “These are not for you!” He used the knowledge that he had gained working alongside his father in his Carorondelet auto shop to service his own his family’s cars, which included a beloved Carmingea, Gremlin and several Vokeswagon buses.

David was strong, full of life, friendly, funny, resourceful, mechanically minded, creative and a problem solver who loved to find efficient and effective ways to make life easier for those he loved. He loved everyone and everyone that he met loved him.

David leaves behind comforting memories to his wife, daughters, sons-in-laws, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, his sister, Patricia Oldenburg, his brother, Herbert (Lannon) Smith, his nephews, nieces, cousins, sister-in-laws, old friends and neighbors, and kind caretakers and friends at the Missouri Veterans Home, St Louis. Although sad, not one of these loved ones will think of David without smiling. He was that kind of guy!

David donated his body to science through St. Louis Cremation. His ashes will be interned at Jefferson Barracks cemetery when a gathering of his loved ones can be done safely.

“If there comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll stay there forever.” Winnie-the-Pooh