Mr. Royce Ray Smith

Mr. Royce Ray Smith died Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007, at his residence. He was 84. Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27, from the chapel at Ward Wilson Funeral Home, Crematory at Memory Hill Cemetery with the Rev. Allie Freeman officiating. Burial will follow in Memory Hill Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home one hour prior to the funeral service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to Covenant Hospice, 2855 Ross Clark Circle, Suite 110, Dothan, AL 36301. Mr. Smith was born Oct. 10, 1923, in the Union community, north of Slocomb, the son of the late Edgar B. Smith and Bertie Seay Smith. Mr. Smith was a member of First Methodist Church of Dothan. Mr. Smith graduated from Slocomb High School in 1941. Following his graduation from high school he attended a vocational training in Aero Mechanics at Auburn, Alabama. Upon graduation, he was hired and worked as an a/c mechanic at the Mobile Air Material area in Mobile. In March 1943, Mr. Smith joined the U.S. Navy and served overseas during World War II as an Aircraft Ordnance and Mine Warfare Specialist. He was discharged in November 1945 after the war ended. After his discharge from the Navy, Mr. Smith entered the University of Alabama and graduated with a B.S. Degree in personnel production management in 1949. Following his graduation, Mr. Smith moved to Warner Robins, Ga., where he was employed at Robins AFB. While employed there, he held several key management positions including that of Chief of the Management Engineering Division as Staff Officer, responsible for insuring the systematic application of engineering techniques and methodology to the management of the command resources and provided consultant service to the commander and staff of the base. Later in his career at Robins AFB, he administered a civilian personnel program within an area of the base. After he retired in 1979, Mr. Smith moved to Dothan and lived most of his remaining life there. Mr. Smith was preceded in death by his former wife, Nell Hughes Smith, and a sister, Carmie S. Hall, and brother-in-law, O.D. Hall, Edna Marsh; brother-in-law, Gerald Marsh; brother-in-law, Raymond Cox; sister, Lucy Gamble; and brother-in-law, A.J. Hughes. Mr. Smith is survived by his wife, Dorothy Smith of Dothan; his daughters, Beth Hallford of Dothan, Vicki Chabra and her husband Raj of Lafayette, Calif.; his son, Ed Smith and his wife Cathy of Monroe, Ga.; his sister, Gladys Cox of Slocomb; his brothers, Glen Smith and his wife Agnes of Dothan, Edsel Smith and his wife MaeNell of Slocomb; his grandchildren, Shauna Robertson and her husband Jim, Michelle Lain, Josh Lain and his wife Kathy, Marka Smith, Kacee Hallford and Tess Chabra; great-grandchildren, Logan Lain and Hunter Robertson; brother-in-law, James Hughes of Geneva. Pallbearers will be Bill Alford, Dennis Hall, Gary Cox, Mike Gamble, Mathew Hughes and John Gamble. Ward Wilson Memory Hill Funeral Home, Cemetery and Crematory, (334) 792-4194, is in charge of arrangements.