The life of S. Theodore Smith, as told by his son, automobile dealer Ros Smith, is an admirable study of an astute businessman and civic leader who combined his genius for accomplishment and the love for his community.
Admiration for his father shines through in Ros Smith's recitation of the good works of this man who in a Log Cabin Democrat survey was named the 10th most influential person in Faulkner County's history.
Businessman, war hero, community activist -- these are the legacies of Smith, who made his mark among the city's movers and shakers, men who shaped the destiny of the locale with their foresight and perspective.
Smith was born in 1894 into a Conway family of merchants. His father, S. G. Smith, operated a general store and cotton sale barn in downtown Conway. He was a businessman who prospered and then lost heavily in the dark days of the Depression.
"He thought he had done well buying cotton at 5 cents a pound in the New Orleans market only to see the price drop to 2 cents," Ros Smith says, recalling stories of the difficult times of bankruptcies and bank failures.
Schooled in Conway, Theodore Smith attended Hendrix College and was the mascot for the Warrior football team before he transferred to the University of Illinois.
With the outbreak of World War I, Smith elected to join the Army and was sent to France with an artillery unit after a period of training at Fort Roots. He had earned the rank of second lieutenant when he was shipped abroad.
On Oct. 16, 1918, less than a month before the armistice ending the war was signed, Smith was wounded during the furious fighting at Chateau-Thierry, a small town in the north of France.
A barrage of shrapnel struck the left side of his body, inflicting wounds to his shoulder, arm and hand and immobilizing him. He was carried off the battlefield -- his third major assault on the Germans -- in serious condition. The effects of his wounds and scars would remain with him throughout his life. He later became highly decorated by the French and American governments.
Smith's fate on the battlefield was unknown for some time. He was taken to a French hospital and was incommunicado. Word was received in Conway that Smith had been killed in action, and soon afterward people in the community held a memorial service for the man, laying him to rest in absentia.
Smith had been taken to a remote hospital after he was wounded and was virtually forgotten. He remained incapacitated in a hospital for a year before returning to Conway in 1919 to the surprise of all.
Being taken to a French hospital proved to be a move in his favor, he believed, since he feared that American doctors would have amputated his arm.
After a period of recuperation at home, he married Kathrine Hayes of Little Rock in 1925. Ros Smith was born of that union in 1926.
The Smith automobile business commenced in 1916 by S.G. Smith, who had high hopes that his son would take over the agency on his graduation from college. But World War I played havoc with those plans.
Smith did follow his father in the automobile business, and in 1923 he moved the auto agency from a site near the present Mercantile Bank to Front Street next to the Conway Theater.
Some 45 years later, Ros Smith assumed control of the dealership and moved to it Smith Ford's present location on Oak Street in 1973.
During the most visible times of his life, Theodore Smith was very active in city government, serving as an alderman and at one time taking over temporarily as mayor.
He also made his mark as chairman of the Conway Corp. Board of Directors, his association with the entity continuing for 45 years. Many of the good works coming out of that organization bore the stamp of Theodore Smith's efforts.
He was a charter member of the Conway Rotary Club, which was founded in 1921, and a pillar at First United Methodist Church.
Ellen Smith, for whom the Conway elementary school is named, was an activist in her own right. The grandmother of Ros Smith campaigned for a position and won a spot on the local school board, becoming the first woman in the state to accomplish that feat.
Smith, who died in 1973, is remembered as a sharp businessman who had a keen interest in the city's economy. He and banker Thomas Wilson worked in tandem of sorts to help snare several small industries and urge them to locate in Conway's industrial park.
They traveled extensively in quest of industry as representatives of the Conway Development Corporation and were highly successful in recruiting "clean" businesses, such as a shoe factory, now SAS, and Virco Mfg. Corp.