Norman Smith
Norman Ferguson Smith “Grandy”, 85, died peacefully on Saturday, August 27, 2016.
Norman was born on Feb. 26, 1931, and raised in Chattanooga. He went to The McCallie School, class of 1949 and Georgia Institute of Technology on an NROTC scholarship where he graduated in 1953 with a B.S. in Architecture. He was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy. He married Ann Broome on September 19, 1953 at Northside Baptist in Chattanooga. He completed flight training in Pensacola, Fl., and Kansas, and then was stationed in Jacksonville, Fl., as a pilot in a P2V Squadron. After his service, he returned to Chattanooga, where he worked at Combustion Engineering, then moved in 1959 to Newnan, Georgia, where he worked at R.D. Cole Manufacturing as vice president and chief engineer. In 1968, he and his family moved to Doyleston, Ohio where he worked at Babcock & Wilcox as project manager. In 1976, he moved to Canton, Ohio and was promoted to manager of Project Management at Babcock & Wilcox in the Contract Research Division. He retired in 1992, and moved back home to Chattanooga in 1996 and finally to Lookout Mountain, in early 2013.
Norman had a passion for music. He was in many church choirs and was the minister of music in Newnan, Georgia and Canton, Ohio. He sang in the Akron Symphony Chorus and the Chattanooga Choral Arts Society. He loved any kind of classical music. He also enjoyed bluegrass, and was a member the local bluegrass group The Dismembered Tennesseans. Norman could play numerous instruments including the piano, cello, guitar and enjoyed teaching his great-grandson piano.
Norman’s faith was the primary defining feature of his life. He grew up attending Northside Baptist in Chattanooga, The Chapel while living in Ohio, and later Brainerd Hills Baptist in Chattanooga. For the last few years of his life, he attended Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church. He taught his family about Christ by how he cared for his wife and kids. He read the birth story of Jesus in the gospel of Luke to the entire family each year at Thanksmas (the annual family holiday gathering at Mimi and Grandy’s house), and teared up each and every time he prayed thanking the Lord for the family with which God had blessed him.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Frances and Henry Leon Smith.
He leaves behind a family that loves and misses him dearly, but looks forward to a joyful reunion with him in Heaven. Grandy’s pride and joy was his family. He cared gently all his life for his best friend and wife, Ann. He is survived by his older brother, Leon (Jean) Smith. He was an involved and attentive father to his children, Hollie (Don) Kent, Norm Jr. (Karen) Smith, Melanie (Bill) Dunham, and Jerry (Pam) Smith. He invested his time and thoughts and knowledge and wisdom to his grandchildren Beth (Joseph) Wingfield, Katie Kent, Susan (Kyle) Bryant, Rachael (Norman) Pond, Thomas (Natalie) Smith, Aubrey (Billy) Painter, Yvonne (Venya) Slobodenko, Ian (Jessica) Dunham, Claire (Easton) Coleman, Adam Dunham, Megan Smith, Casey Smith, and Julia Smith. For the last 10 years of his life, Grandy also had 10 great-grandchildren which brought him immense pride and joy including Teddy, Wilder, Hank, Kent and Salt Wingfield, Samantha Pond, Lev and Pasha Slobodenko, Theophilus Coleman, and Rennick Smith. The legacy that Daddy or Grandy left to his family carries on to saving faith in Jesus in his children and grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 29, in the funeral home chapel with Reverend Joseph Novenson and Dr. Richard Mason officiating.
Please visit www.heritagechattanooga.com to share words of comfort and to view the memorial tribute.
The family will receive friends from 1-3 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 29, at Heritage Funeral Home, East Brainerd Road.