Clyde R. Smith

Clyde Richard Smith, age 86, of Gatesville, passed away Thursday, January 18, 2018 at his home. Graveside services will be at 1:00 p.m. Monday, January 22, 2018 at Restland Cemetery with Minister Darrell McWhorter officiating. Mr. Smith was born on November 24, 1931 in McCamey, Texas to William Earl and Verna Mae (New) Smith. After a childhood in Weed, New Mexico and a brief time in Artesia, New Mexico, the family moved to Odessa where Mr. Smith attended Odessa High School and played center on the 1946-47 varsity football team. At age 16, he won the heavyweight division of the Golden Gloves boxing competition in Odessa. During his junior year, he met Mary Louise Manning. After a brief courtship, they eloped at mid-term of their senior year and were married December 31, 1948, in Odessa. They had three sons, Michael (1949) and Jimmy (1951), were born in Odessa, and Matthew (1955), was born in Big Spring. Mr. Smith followed in his father’s footsteps and worked for many years in the casing crew business all over West Texas and New Mexico. Due to his vast expertise in pipe operations, he was recruited by Arctic Casing Crews and relocated to Kenai, Alaska in 1969, when the first oil was discovered on the North Slope. After a brief stint back in Odessa, he was recruited by a British oilwell service company, Salvesen Casing Crews, and relocated to Aberdeen, Scotland in 1974. He moved to Den Helder, Holland in 1975 to open a Dutch branch of the Salvesen operation, and returned to Aberdeen as Operations Manager in late 1976. He suffered an ulcer while in Scotland and returned to Odessa, in 1977. At the behest of longtime friend Emery Eckel, he became a worldwide salesman/troubleshooter for Eckel Manufacturing Company, and later transferred to Houston in 1979, where he was international sales manager. This gave him the opportunity to travel the world to such places as Rio de Janiero, Paris, Italy, Germany, and Mexico City. In 1981, he and Mary built a home in Oak Ridge North south of Conroe, Texas, and over the next few years he worked as sales manager for the Tri-Flo Division of DRECO Manufacturing, a Canadian drilling rig construction and oilwell services company, and for Tuboscope Corp. as a tubular specialist. Tired of big city life, circa 1993, he decided to leave oilfield work and moved to Gatesville as Mary wished to be near her aging parents. They resided for several years on Lake Pennibilt and Clyde managed several ranch properties for his brother-in-law, Jack Manning. During this period, Mary was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. During her long recuperation, he purchased the old Bartsch place which he had been leasing on FM 116, just outside Gatesville, and began construction of a home while managing cattle in Fort Hood and at his own property. Following Mary’s death in 2007, Mr. Smith continued to ranch on the FM 116 property, until he was incapacitated by a leg wound and old age. Mr. Smith was preceded in death by his brother, Virgil Smith of Odessa and sisters, Ruby Briley of Odessa, Ona Ree Roberts of Grants, New Mexico, and Thelma Sanders of New Orleans, Louisiana. He is survived by sons, William Michael Smith of Houston, Jimmy Earl Smith of Frisco, and Clyde Matthew Smith of Odessa; daughter-in-law Marcia Smith of Frisco; grandchildren, Sara Blount of San Antonio, Lance Smith of Houston, Sarah Smith of Frisco, Nicholas Smith of Frisco, Josh Smith of Conroe, and Jane Mary Smith of Conroe.; and great-granddaughter, Veronica Blount of San Antonio. In his final years, Mr. Smith enjoyed helping feed the less fortunate, visiting the sick and infirm in the community, and spending time on his ranch with his grandchildren. He counted among his closest friends his neighbors, Buster and Kim Patterson and Mark Carruthers.