Charles Smith

Charles Richard "Dick" Smith, 90, died peacefully at Salemtowne Retirement Community surrounded by his family. Dick was born October 23, 1927 in Cambria, VA, to Charles R. Smith and Sally Mona Rush Smith. In 1944, he graduated from Christiansburg High School and from Virginia Tech University (then known as VPI) with a degree in Structural Engineering in 1949. He was the catcher for the Hokies Baseball Team. His commitment to serve in the Navy along with an active stint granted him the G.I. Bill. He joined the Naval Reserve upon graduation, at which time he was also hired to teach structural engineering at Virginia Tech. Dick married Nancy Hite Jeffreys Smith on July 7, 1951 at Nancy's hometown church, Keysville United Methodist Church.

They lived in Washington, Greensboro, and finally settled in Winston-Salem in 1962, when they joined Ardmore United Methodist Church. He was active at Ardmore Church as a teacher, leader, funeral steward, committee chairman, and board member for over 50 years.

Dick worked as an Engineer for Carolina Steel for 40 years. He was involved with Little League Baseball as a coach for 10 years and as an administrator for over 30 years.


During Dick's distinguished Navy career of over 40 years, he rose from Apprentice Seaman to OCS Rear Admiral. He spent his combined active and reserve career with the Navy Civil Engineer Corps, with many of those years in the "Seebees," - the Naval Construction Force (NCF) During his time in the NCF, he commanded units at all levels, including Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Twenty-Four, Third Naval Construction Regiment, and the Reserve Naval Construction Force. He was also instrumental in helping to refine the organizational structure of the reserve Seabees to mirror active duty structure, helping to ensure optimum readiness for reserve Seabee units.

Preceded in death by his son, Jeff, Mr. Smith is survived by a son, Chris, and daughter-in-law Shelley, along with three grandchildren Whitney, Katie, and Ally; his brother David and wife Judy; his sister Francis and husband Ed, in addition to several cousins.

A celebration of life service will be held Sunday, January 7, 2018 at 3:00 pm at Salemtowne's Smith Saal with Rev. Linda Browne and Rev. Bev Copley officiating. He will be inurned in a private ceremony at the Smith site at Sunset Cemetery in Christiansburg, VA. Memorials may be sent to Ardmore United Methodist Church, 630 S. Hawthorne Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27103; or the Seabee Memorial Scholarship Association. P.O. Box 667, Gulfport, MS 39502, and directed to the RADM Charles R. "Dick" Smith Scholarship and/or the Nancy Jeffries Smith Scholarship.

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