Roger Smith

Roger Lea Smith was born in Salem, MO 2/28/1949 to Harold “Wayne” Smith of Licking, MO and Hazel Vicinda (Branson) Smith of Bucyrus, MO. He was preceded in death by his parents and an infant great nephew. He is survived by his beloved wife of 38 years, Johnnie (Marlowe) Smith of Johnstown, PA; adored son and daughter-in-law Stephen Smith and Jamie Russo of Jersey City, NJ; and the light of his life, his little sunshine, granddaughter Emerson Smith of Tomball, TX. He is also survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Reva (Smith) Teague and Layne Teague of Forest Grove, OR; his brother and sister-in-law, Leonard Smith and Jo Griffith of Mohnton, PA; his sister and brother-in-law, LeAnn (Smith) Bolwerk and Michael Bolwerk of Beckville, TX; 4 sisters-in-law and spouses, 17 nieces and nephews and 7 great nieces and nephews. Roger and his wife resided in College Station, TX at the time of his death.

Roger was raised in a typical post WWII family, living at the University of Missouri (Columbia) while his father completed his degree in Forestry. He attended 1^st grade in Arkansas, 2^nd grade in Louisiana and 3-12 in Carthage, TX where he graduated from Carthage High School in 1967. He attended Texas A&M University on an academic scholarship and received his BS in Electrical Engineering in 1971 and followed with MS studies in Computer Design. He also earned an MBA at the University of Dallas in 1980.

He worked a short time for LTV but spent most of his career at Texas Instruments/Raytheon where he had many friends among his co-workers and customers. He was most proud of those he mentored during his career in Program Management on a variety of Defense Systems programs. His retired in 2011. His assignments at TI/Raytheon enabled him to visit customers across the globe, from Germany to Paris, Egypt to Malaysia, Singapore to Japan and Hong Kong, and throughout the United States.

He and Johnnie moved to College Station after her retirement and enjoyed a wonderful community of respectful and caring people. He loved soccer, especially EPL, cooking, gardening, vacationing in Hawaii and collecting recipes. His favorite times were watching his son play football and soccer from pre-school into college and most recently watching his beautiful granddaughter Emerson play soccer. While living in Dallas he was also active in Greater North Texas Orchid Society and loved his orchids.

We would like to thank all the medical staff at CHI St Joseph’s Hospital in Bryan, TX and Hospice Brazos Valley as well as all his doctors for the care they provided to him.

Roger donated his body to the Texas A&M University Medical School and requested that no services be held. If you wish to remember him, please donate to Hospice Brazos Valley or the charity of your choice in his name.