Joseph Mono “Buddy” Smith, Jr., 73, of Tifton died Sunday morning, November 24, 2013, at his home after a brief battle with leukemia. Since the body is to be cremated, the family will receive family and friends at a Memorial Visitation on November 30, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. at Bowen and Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Honorary pallbearers will be Ronald Brownlee, Dudley Click, John D. Crosby, Chris Goodman, James Walker, Larry Weaver, and George Wright.
Mr. Smith was born on May 27, 1940 in Tifton and was the son of Joseph Mono Smith, Sr. and Lawson Sapp Smith, both deceased. Mr. Smith was preceded in death by a son, Joseph Mono Smith, III; and a brother, Dan Lamar Smith.
Mr. Smith graduated from Tifton High School in 1958 and attended Jones Business College in Jacksonville, Florida. He returned to Tifton in 1960 and attended Abraham Baldwin College, later transferring to the University of Georgia and receiving a B.S. in Agriculture. After college he worked for Central Soya while living in Canton, Georgia. In 1973, he returned to Tifton to farm.
Mr. Smith served in the United States Air Force for four years. While serving, he was stationed in Turkey as an intelligence specialist and traveled extensively in Europe and Asia.
While farming, Smith practiced wildlife preservation and land conservation. When he retired, he planted both family farms in pine trees. He also built and placed feeders for wildlife throughout the two farms. Through the years he helped to maintain a flock of fifty-one wild turkeys and a herd of thirty -two deer.
Mr. Smith is survived by his wife of forty-nine years, Jeffrey Dianne Waldrop Smith; his daughter Dr. Monica Hart; son-in-law Dr. David Hart; five-year-old grandson Jeremy; and sister and brother-in-law JoAnn and Roger Dill.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hospice of Tift Area, P. O. Box 747, Tifton, GA 31793, or to the Georgia Wildlife Federation, http://gwf.org.