Percy Smith

Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 5:29 pm

The Messenger, April 17, 2012

Percy Edgar Smith, 80, of Dyersburg, formerly of Tiptonville, died April 12, 2012, at Baptist Memorial Restorative Care Hospital in Memphis.
Visitation will be Thurs-day 5-7 p.m., followed by the memorial service at 7 p.m. in the student center at Dyersburg State Community College, with Dr. David Russell, senior minister of First United Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will be at Farmhaven Cemetery in Farmhaven, Miss., at 10 a.m. Saturday. Dyersburg Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
Honorary pallbearers will be Gene Bolte, Bob Darnell, John Foster Fields, Randal Harris, Bob Little, Mark Mikrut, Sharron Mikrut, Marty Moody, Charlie Ozment, James Partee, Ed Presley, John Steen, David Thomas, Jeff Thomas, Jack Todd, Jennie Sue Wadley, Larry White and Doug Wilkerson.
The family asks that donations be made to The Percy Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund at Dyersburg State Community College, 1510 Lake Road, Dyersburg, TN 38024; or to The Farmhaven Cemetery Fund, in care of Joy Lynch, 1086 Old Hwy. 16, Canton, MS 39042.
He was born May 2, 1931, in Sharon, Miss., and graduated from Farmhaven High School in April 1950. In the Korean War, Percy served in the U.S. Army’s 5th Regimental Combat Team, Long Range Recon Patrol, attaining the rank of first sergeant. He then served in the Mississippi National Guard and afterwards attended Mississippi State University. He worked as a Mississippi state tax agent, Mississippi state bank examiner and a U.S. federal bank examiner.
He moved to Tiptonville in 1968 with First State Bank and Trust Co., where he was an innovative banker who computerized operations and later expanded the operation to include banks in Martin and Dyersburg. He was instrumental in bringing the prison to Lake County and establishing the Reelfoot Lake Regional Utility and Planning District.
For many years, he was a board member of Dyersburg State Community College. In addition, he was also active with Boy Scouts, Lions Club and Defense Orientation Conference Association and he served on the boards of many other organizations, considering it an honor and privilege to serve the communities with which he was affiliated. Retiring in July 1995, he spent much of his time on hobbies of traveling, cooking and gardening.
He leaves his beloved wife of 24 years, Mary Lynn Smith; two sons and his daughter-in-law, Craig Smith of Tiptonville and  Todd and Ren Smith of Milford, Conn.; his stepdaughter, Madeline Eddlemon of Dyersburg; and two brothers and his sister-in-law, Ike Fremont Smith of Alexandria, Va., and Edgar Dye and Molly Smith of Brentwood.
He was preceded in death by his father, Arthur Perry Smith; his mother, Mary Matilda (Spivey) Smith; and two brothers, Arthur Perry Smith Jr. and Lewis Spivey Smith.
Condolences may be left at www.dyersburgfuneralhome.net