Thomas "Tc" Smith

Thomas “TC” Smith, 91, conceived, born, lived, and died in the town of Haw River, passed away on February 15, 2016. He retired from Western Electric after 34 years of service. During that time, he worked two assignments in Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, then took the family to North Dakota for several years. He made these sacrifices to put the kids through college. He insists he would have lived longer had it not been for the Duke football game in 1939 when they gave up their first touchdown of the season in the Rose Bowl. He was a lifelong member of Haw River United Methodist Church and a member of the Bingham Masonic Lodge 272 since 1948. TC was a WWII veteran, serving in the Merchant Marines in the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters. He survived a shipwreck in the South Pacific in 1945 thanks to his scouting skills. As an avid hunter, fisherman, and gardener, he fed his family from nature. He grew the best tomatoes in the county and he generously shared the bounty with neighbors and friends. He loved flounder gigging on weekends at the coast with many of the men from the church, In his later years, TC traveled the world on his five-wheeler (desk chair) via computer, but never got more than 12,500 miles from home. He was losing his eye sight, but never his insight. TC figured that as long as you are alive, you should learn at least one new thing each day. Most of his visitors were eventually guided to his “man cave” where he took them on adventures or taught them new and exciting things from “Smarter Every Day” or the “Crazy Russian Hacker”. TC was civic minded and very active in many local groups and organizations throughout his life, including the Boy Scouts, Methodist Men, Toastmasters, PTA, and the Haw River Historical Society. He was repurposing and recycling items before it was cool. He attended the first ever American Boy Scouts Jamboree in 1937 in Washington, DC. He felt much safer after shaking hands with Edgar Hoover at that event. Survivors include his best friend, Jane Hochreiter; a daughter, Darry Conner (Ted) of Durham, sons; Preston Smith (Carol) of Overland Park, KS., Merwin Smith of Houston, TX, 2 grandchildren, Leah and Joshua Smith, great grandchildren Hayden and Dylan, 3 grand-cats, Max, Rudy, and Mocha Smith, and 1 grand-iguana, Ivan Conner. He was preceded in death by his parents, Herndon H. Smith (WWI Vet) and Janie Best Smith, and his wife of 64 years, Dorothy Parrott Smith. The family will receive friends on Thursday February 18, 2016 from 5-7 at McClure Funeral and Cremation Service in Graham. A funeral service will be held at 1:00pm on Friday February 19, 2016 at Haw River United Methodist Church officiated by Rev. Jeanne Neal. Interment will follow in the Haw River Cemetery with Military and Masonic Rites. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Hospice and Palliative Care Center of Alamance-Caswell 914 Chapel Hill Rd. Burlington, NC 27215 or to Haw River United Methodist Church PO Box 460 Haw River, NC 27258.