By Cheryl Blackerby
DELRAY BEACH — Carl Smith spent most of his life putting smiles on the faces of those around him.
At Miramar Gardens in Delray Beach, he was known as the easygoing golfer and tennis player whom everyone called “Doc” — the guy with the one-liners about Notre Dame football.
“He used to tell people that there were only two important Catholics in the world,” said his son Dana Smith. “There was the pope. And then there was the quarterback of the Notre Dame football team.”
Before moving to Delray Beach in 1982, he spent most of four decades taking care of the smiles in Trumansburg, N.Y., where he established a flourishing dental practice after coming home from World War II.
“He was a real people person,” Dana Smith said. “He enjoyed the company of others and had many happy tennis matches in Delray. He loved it when they called him Doc.”
Carl Richard Smith died Dec. 3 in Delray Beach at the age of 93. His wife, Virginia, “Ginny,” died in 2007, shortly after they celebrated their 60th anniversary.
The two met in France during the war. She was a Red Cross nurse and he was an Army Air Corps dentist.
“Mom went back to Seattle after the war, and dad went back to New York,” said Dana Smith. “She was quite independent. She got into a car and drove all the way to Trumansburg to find him. She did and that was it. They were together from then on.”
Doc and Ginny married in San Mateo, Calif., in 1947 and returned to Trumansburg to raise five children, all of whom survive: Dana (Roxanne) Smith of Trumansburg; Eric (Maria) Smith of Ligonier, Pa.; Paul (Robin) Smith of Bend, Ore.; Mike (LaJuana) Smith of Los Angeles; and Beth Smith (Mike Lambert) of Eugene, Ore. The couple leaves eight grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and one step-great-grandchild.
Doc Smith earned his bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame and went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania’s dental school. One of the family’s special retreats was a cottage on Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, where they enjoyed summer vacations together with friends.
Doc Smith played tennis well into his 80s and followed Notre Dame football until the end.
There are no services, but friends can make memorial contributions to St. James Catholic Church, P.O. Box 709, Trumansburg, NY 14886. For more information, contact Ness-Sibley Funeral Home in Trumansburg, (888) 534-5446.
Family members plan to gather sometime next summer for a memorial celebration of Doc’s life.
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