William Doyle “Bill” Smith

    QUITMAN – Services for William Doyle “Bill” Smith will be held Monday at 12:30 p.m. at Wright’s Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow with military honors at the Odd Fellows Cemetery.

    Mr. Smith, 85, of Commerce, Ga. passed away at his residence on Thursday, August 4, 2011.

    Bill was a WWII Navy veteran.  He loved his country and served in WWII in the Pacific on the tanker Maumee as a gunner.  He was a professional photographer and retired in the mid 1980’s. Bill was a member of Beaver Brook Country Club in Knoxville, Tenn. and was an avid golfer and gardener. He never met a stranger and was loved and well thought of by all who knew him.  He loved to laugh, was a bit of a prankster, loved his girls and enjoyed spending time with his family and friends. He always looked forward to taking mom to Hardees for lunch and just hanging out with his friends there.  He was a Christian and a member of the Homer Baptist Church and was born and raised in Quitman where his body will be returned for burial.

    Bill leaves behind his wife of 62 years, Kathleen Early Smith; two children, Kathy Barron of Duluth, Ga. and Debbie and Jerry Loftice of Homer, Ga.; four grandchildren, Molly Burnette, Drew Barron, Kristi and Jason Johnson and Jeremy and Abbie Loftice; six great-grandchildren, Cooper, Audrey and Elle Johnson, Owen and Emily Loftice, and Logan Burnette.  He is also survived by his dog and best friend, Dixie, many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

    He was preceded in death by a daughter, Barbara Kathleen Smith; his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Andrew J. Smith, Sr.; two brothers, A. J. Smith, Jr. and Raymond Earl Smith; and three sisters, Gaynell Meline, Hazel Young and Bessie Cruise.