In Memory: Jack Deloss Smith
Written by Bonnie Smith
This is the story of Jack Deloss Smith. He was born on November 23, 1933 in Sara Jackson's house in Cameron, New York. He was named after his two grandfathers. His dad's parents names were Jack and Alice Smith and his mom's parents names were Deloss and Bertha Mapes. His mothers name was Flora Lucille and his dad's was Herbert Henry. He was the fifth of seven children. Jesse, Dorothy, Raymond and June were older and Beverly and Herbert were younger. He learned to walk when he was 1 ½. He slept in his parents room until he was 6 years old. Grandma told us once that he used to make Grandpa get back out of bed to kiss his teddy bear goodnight before he would go to sleep. He was so jealous when his baby sister was born that he went and hid under the bed and wouldn't come out for a long time. He grew up in Cameron, Owego and Hankins and attended school in each of those places.
My dad liked to fish when he was growing up and he said he did boxing, soccer and softball when he was 11 and 12. He said the foods he liked most were potatoes, spaghetti and any kind of meat but his favorite was potatoes. His favorite soda pop was orange. His favorite color was green. He went to high school in Addison, NY and was in the 4-H Club. His favorite subjects were English and Math and his favorite teacher was Mrs. Fowler. He got his license when he was 16 and his first car was a dodge. He helped his dad and brothers work on cars a lot.
After he left high school he went into the service. He was drafted into the Army in 1953 during the Korean War. He went to basic training at Fort Devins, Mass at the age of 20 in June , 1953. He wrote to his family a lot while he was in the army and wrote to his mom a couple times a week. My grandma saved all these letters and I have read them. From the very first he hated the Army and wished he were home in every letter. He lived for the times when he would get leave and be able to come home. My Aunt Dorothy said he would often hitchhike home and back. He missed his family so much and he had two special nieces that he called "my girls", Molly and Dorothy Marie and in every letter he would tell his Mom, "kiss my girls for me". After basic training he was stationed at Fort Bragg, NC and Fort Benning, GA for the remainder of his two years. For a time there was a chance he would be shipped overseas but the cease fire was signed right before he was supposed to go. He was in the Signal Corps and was a radio operator. He was discharged in early summer of 1955.
Jack got married on September 17, 1955 to Mary Jane Nolton. He talked about her in his letters and they wrote to each other while he was in the service and saw each other when he was home on his leaves. His brother Raymond had earlier married her sister so there was a double connection to the Nolton family! His first job was with the Corning Glass Works and he worked in the A-plant hand blowing glass. His next job was on the Erie Railroad.. He worked as a signalman for 36 years until he retired in 1987 from Conrail. He worked very hard on the railroad, I remember him getting called out many times in the middle of the night to go fix broken signals. His dad and brothers also worked for the railroad.
Jack and Mary had five children. Their names were Edwin, David, Bonnie (me) , Catherine and Adam. Ed was born in Hornell but when David was born they had moved to Narrowsburg, NY . My dad was working on the railroad there. The rest of us were born in Hornell after they had moved back to Cameron. We lived in town until 1965 when we moved to the swale onto the 100 acre farm that my dad and mom had bought from her grandmother, Ella Nolton. He lived the rest of his life there. I don't remember a lot of vacations growing up but one I remember was to the Catskills Game Farm.
Jack had eight grandchildren. Ed had Anna , Linda and Ken. David had David, Jr and Susan and Bonnie had Gene, Kati and Liz. He took them camping, fishing and hunting. He loved to go camping and fishing with his kids and grandkids and planned a vacation every year. Some of the places he took us were Black Lake, Oneida Lake, Sylvan Beach, Conesus Lake, Lake Ontario, Pulaski and Sodus Bay, Scranton, the Delaware River, Cooperstown and Niagara Falls. You can see we never went anywhere unless there was fishing there!
He raised some beef cattle and a few milk cows but later he really got into pig farming and did that until he retired. Then he sold them all!! He went to Florida for a few months every winter from about 1992 until the last couple years he stayed home all winter. He would pull his camping trailer down and park it in his sister Beverly's back yard and hang out with her and her husband Fred and his sister Dorothy. They did a lot of things together and enjoyed the warm weather. He always made sure to call us a lot and tell us just how warm it was there!
My dad worked hard his whole life. If he was feeling under the weather he would sit and complain about how much work he wasn't getting done and say " I didn't do a darn thing today" . He went to his family reunion every year. Family was always very important to him. He had been to a family function with his sisters the day he got sick last year, Saturday, September 15th. He went to the doctors the next day and they sent him home. He collapsed over night and was taken to the hospital on his 52nd wedding anniversary. Two days later he was moved from ICU into a regular room. Shortly after getting in his room he collapsed. The staff did everything possible but he didn't make it. He had a pulmonary embolism, blood clots, that had moved to both lungs.
September 19, 2007. That was the saddest day of my life. I miss him so much every day. I just feel like he wasn't finished with what he wanted to do. He was working on three projects when he died. He was the strongest man I ever knew. He was my rescuer and he did rescue me more times than I can remember. Sometimes I know he was disappointed in me but I hope at the end he was proud of me.
