Manly Reese Smith, Jr., JACKSONVILLE, FL.
A memorial service for Manly Reese Smith, Jr., 93, will be held at 10:00 AM on Monday, April 10. 2017 in the chapel at Palms Presbyterian Church, 3410 South Third Street, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250. The family will receive friends in Patton Hall following the service.
Mr. Smith went home to be with the Lord on Sunday, April 2, 2017. He was pre-deceased by his parents, Manly Reese Smith, Sr., of Lee County, SC and Helen Heyward Folk of Jalapa, SC, and his second wife, Moni Kicklighter Smith of Glennville, GA. He was born in Columbia, SC, October 28, 1923. He graduated from Columbia High School and entered the army during World War II. He became a flight officer in the Army Air Corp as a B-25 pilot, completing his training shortly before the end of the war. Following his military service, he returned to Columbia where he went to work for the National Biscuit Company in sales. In the late 1950’s he moved to Savannah, GA where he became one of the top agents for State Farm Insurance Company before retiring in 2001.
In Savannah he was a member of the City Club, the Skidaway Island Country Club, Kiwanis, and Alee Temple. He was a Thirty Second Degree Mason, served as Grand Potentate, and a member of the Court Jesters. In Columbia, he and his first wife were charter members of the Trenholm Road Methodist Church. In Savannah he was an active member and served in numerous leadership positions, including multiple terms on the Board of Stewards at the Skidaway Island Methodist Church. In 2002 he and his wife moved to Cypress Village near Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. He was a member of the Palms Presbyterian Church, the University Club, the St Johns Club, and the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club.
He is survived by his wife, Evelyn “Doots” Beaver Smith; his four children, Rev. Dr. Ronald Reese Smith (Cheryl), Jacksonville Beach, Gregory Richard Smith Sr. (Vicki), Charlotte, NC, Carol Ann Dudley (Jim), Raleigh, NC, and Victoria Lee “Tori” Ulmer (David), Crozet, VA; two step-children, Lynn Toler Parker (Keith), Jacksonville, and William “Skip” Toler (Dottie), Edisto Island, SC; thirteen grandchildren, David Ashley Smith, JD (Pamela), Jacksonville, Marion Elizabeth Lane (Willie), Jacksonville Beach, Helen Caples Smith, Boston, MA, Gregory Richard Smith, Jr., Berkeley, CA, Emory Patrick Smith, Charlotte, NC, Caroline Elizabeth Dudley, Winston-Salem, NC, Michael James Dudley (Stephanie), Jacksonville, Miranda Ulmer, Tuscaloosa, AL, and Jack Ulmer, Crawford Ulmer Crozet, VA, and Lydia Ulmer, Wilmington, NC; two great grandchildren, London Reese Smith and Kathryn Elizabeth Smith, Jacksonville.
The family request in lieu of flowers that memorial gifts be made to either the Shriners Hospital for Children, 12502 USF Drive, Tampa, FL 33612-9411 or Harbor Chase Employee Fund, 3455 San Pablo Road South, Jacksonville FL 32224.
Interment will be a private service at the Jacksonville National Cemetery.