Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Lewis Blake Smyth, 85, of Micanopy, Fla., died Monday, March 29, 2004. He was born March 29, 1919, in Greenville, S.C., to the late James Adger Smyth and Mary Hutchinson Smyth, descendants of South Carolina colonists. He was a Class of 1940 graduate of the Citadel. He was a veteran of World War II, serving with distinction in North Africa and Italy. He proudly wore Gen. Patton’s Third Army Patch on his right shoulder. His decorations include the American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Europe-Africa-Middle East Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation with Germany Foreign Service Clasp, the Army Reserve Forces Medal with a Bronze Hour Glass and seven Overseas Bars. He served for 30 years as a civilian with the Air Force. His last duty assignment was at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Georgia. He retired in 1979 to Micanopy, Fla., and served another 25 years on various local and county boards and commissions for the town of Micanopy and Alachua County, Fla., including service as mayor of the town of Micanopy. He was raised on Faraway Farms in Flat Rock, a descendant of circuit-riding pioneer ministers. He was a ruling elder and the clerk of session for the community Presbyterian Church in MacIntosh, Fla. He was a member of the Micanopy Historical Society, the Micanopy Citadel Alumni Association and the Gainesville Chapter Sons of the American Revolution. He was an avid birder, a Master Gardener and active in the Gainesville Camellia Society. An AKC-sanctioned show judge, he had the first American cocker spaniel to win its championship in field trials in post-war Europe. After returning to the United States, he continued to train and show cocker spaniels. Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Carmen Whiting Smyth; a daughter, Clare Smyth Swinford and her husband, Bill, of Bonaire, Ga.; a son, Lewis Blake Smyth Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Garvin Smyth, of Spartanburg, S.C.; a granddaughter, Jennifer Swinford Floyd of Edgewater, Fla.; five grandsons, Michael Swinford of Centerville, Ga., Robert Lewis Swinford of Bonaire, Ga., Wallace Whitlock of Charlotte, James Whitlock of South Royalton, Vt., and Jonathan Whitlock of Charlottesville, Va.; and numerous nephews and nieces. A graveside service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Oakdale Cemetery. The Rev. John C. Neville Jr. will officiate. In lieu of flowers, a more permanent memorial gift may be made to the Lewis B. Smyth Library at the Micanopy Area Cooperatives School, P.O. Box 386, Micanopy, Fla. 32667 or to the Mission Fund of the Community Presbyterian Church in MacIntosh, Fla. Thos. Shepherd & Son Funeral Directors is in charge of the arrangements.
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