Dan Smith
Funeral services for Mr. Dan Smith will be 11:00 A.M. Saturday, April 14, 2018, at Ligon & Bobo Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Wilson County Memorial Gardens. Visitation Friday 4-8 PM and Saturday after 10 AM at Ligon & Bobo. Pallbearers: Dave Smith, Eric Warren, Quintin Smith, Daren Nicholson, Heath Springer, and Matthew Wright.
Mr. Smith, age 87 of Lebanon passed away Tuesday, April 10, 2018, at Tennova Healthcare.
Mr. Dan Smith has lived and farmed in Wilson County all his life. In 1942, the Smith family moved to a farm in the Greenwood community, a few miles southeast of Lebanon. Smith continued to farm there until his passing, raising cattle – primarily Angus- along with hay and permanent pasture on 360 acres. He was once among Wilson County’s leading burley tobacco producers and at one time raised Tennessee walking horses, and several champion steers across the Southeast. He was a graduate of Lebanon High School and was a member of Bethel Church of Christ.
Smith was a charter member of the Wilson Farmers Cooperative, which was chartered on November 22, 1949. In 1953, he was elected to Wilson Farmers Co-op’s board of directors, where he served for forty two years. He was elected to the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative’s board in 1972, where he served for nine years. In 2007, Mr. Smith received the Cooperative Spirit Award from TFC.
Mr. Smith, was a valued board member of the Murfreesboro-based Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation since 1971. Nationally, he served for twenty two years as sergeant at arms of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s annual meeting and chief sergeant.
He was a pioneer in youth and young farmers’ activities in Tennessee. As an FFA member in 1949, he received that organization’s highest distinction, the American Farmer Degree. He was a charter member and first president of Wilson County’s Young Farmers and Homemakers organization.
Mr. Smith is a past president of the Wilson County Farm Bureau, a position he held for ten years, and served on its board for over forty years. He served a three year term on an advisory committee for Co-Bank in Louisville, Kentucky. He and his wife were awarded a Life Time Membership in the Wilson County Livestock Association. In addition, he served on the USDA ASCS County Board for several years. In 2009, he was inducted to the Wilson County Agriculture Hall of Fame.
In all, Mr. Dan Smith has a combined service on community boards of over 200 years.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Andrew William and Fannie Sullivan Smith; brother, Ray Smith; two sisters, Martha Robinson and Mary Gladys Mooneyhan; and a sister in law, Geneva Tarpley.
He is survived by his wife of over fifty five years, Vondie Tarpley Smith; two sisters, Julia (Larry) Strange and Dorothy (Doug) Waters; sister in law, Dorothy Jean Smith; brother in law, J. T. Robinson; sister in law, Roberta Tarpley Bailey; numerous nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews; and special great great nephew, Spencer Allen Wright.
Memorials may be made to the Wilson County 4-H Livestock Group.
LIGON & BOBO FUNERAL HOME of Lebanon (615)444-2142 www.ligonbobo.com
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