William “Bill” Leslie Smith, 7769 Tippecanoe Shores, Tippecanoe, coming from Plymouth four years ago, died of natural causes at 7:50 p.m. on Saturday, January 22, 2005, in the Hospice House of St. Joseph County. He was 52 years old.
Bill was born in Muncie, Ind., the son of Wayne L. and Doris V. Bigelow Smith, both of Warsaw, Ind., on September 4, 1952. He attended Muncie Central High School.
In December 1970, Bill joined the United States Air Force and became a Fuel Specialist. He served at the Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. On March 21, 1983, in Warsaw, Bill and Mary Kay Schmidt Dew were married.
A truck driver, both local and long distance, Bill was a man of many talents. He enjoyed fishing, loved animals, leather working and crafting jewelry. He loved listening to Rock ‘n Roll hits from the 50s and 60s.
Bill cherished his family and the times they could be together.
A non-denominational Christian, his spirit was fulfilled by the teachings and readings of the Bible. Bill is survived by his wife, Mary Kay, and his daughter, Candi Jo Smith Lobo, living in Nokomis, Fla., and his step-daughter, Regina Marie Clevenger and her husband, Jeff, of Tippecanoe. Two grandsons, Tyler and Tristan Smith also survive, together with his parents and Ruby and Kenneth Nelson, his in-laws, of Troy, Mo. Two sisters in Warsaw, Ind., Susan A. Cummings and Carolyn J. Sudlow and several nieces and nephews survive as well.
Bill was preceded in death by an infant brother, Michael Smith and an infant sister, Judith Smith.
Family services were held on Sunday, January 23, 2005, in the Johnson-Danielson Funeral Home, 1110 N. Michigan St., Plymouth, Ind.
Herbert Clark, of the Kingdom Hall Jehovah’s Witnesses of Rochester, Ind., gave the discourse.
Memorial gifts in Bill’s memory may be made to the Marshall County Humane Society.