Ronald Coleman Smith, known to friends as Ronnie or occasionally R.C., left us suddenly on October 2, 2024. Born in Lineville Alabama in 1949, he moved to the Glades at an early age, graduating from Belle Glade High School in 1967.

Just two years after graduating from high school he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps; he went on to spend 1969/70 in Vietnam. Returning disillusioned to a changed America, he grew his hair and his beard and embraced the counterculture. In 1971, having hitchhiked from Florida, he marched in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War Peace Demonstration in Washington, D.C.

Ron loved music all his life. In his youth he sang solos in the church choir, played trombone in the school band and was the lead singer of The Stubborn Kind, a Belle Glade rock and roll band. He bought a set of stereo speakers in Vietnam and shipped them 10,000 miles back home. His musical tastes were wide ranging and defied categorization; Ron could enjoy hard rock or yacht rock, Motown or smooth jazz, Batdorf & Rodney or Emerson Lake & Palmer. He named his beloved cocker spaniel Tarkus.

In 1972 he married Penny (Waters) Smith, the love of his life. The couple settled in Delray Beach and had two children, Tara and Jeremy. Ron was especially proud of his granddaughter Sophia; although separated by geography, he never missed Sophia's soccer games when they were broadcast on YouTube.

Ron and Penny had many friends, but they found their greatest pleasure in a quiet life at home. For decades they sat together over breakfast reading the morning paper aloud, sharing the most outrageous or humorous stories of the day. Delray Beach changed dramatically over the course of their fifty-two-year marriage, but their love for one another never did.

As a telephone technician with Southern Bell and its later incarnations, Ron helped build the telecommunications infrastructure necessary to support an exploding regional population. After Hurricane Andrew, he spent a year in Miami rebuilding that same infrastructure. He took quiet pride in his craft, referring to himself simply as a "phone man." For over 40 years he dug cable, climbed poles, and entered homes to add phone lines or install DSL. To celebrate a job well done, he would leave his code-name inside cross boxes and terminal rooms: "Wirewolf."

A lover of nature, Ron introduced his children to the majesty of the Blue Ridge mountains. The family enjoyed many summer evenings on a North Carolina porch, admiring the misty twilight with the hypnotic voice of Carl Sandburg reciting poetry on the radio. His children will cherish memories of climbing Lookout Mountain, braving the frigid waters of Sliding Rock, the Blue Ridge Parkway, alpine slides, his sidesplitting laughter over terrible or whimsical business names, and inside jokes beyond number.

Father, husband, warrior, pacifist, revolutionary, patriot, enigma. An old anvil that laughed at many broken hammers. Now he belongs to the ages and will live forever in our memories, our hearts, our dreams.

Military honors for Ron will be held at the South Florida National Cemetery, 6501 South State Road 7/441 in Lake Worth Beach on Friday, November 22, 2024, at 11am, Lane 3. Following the burial service, the family invites all back to Delray Beach for a time of celebrating Ron's life.  Details will be given at the burial.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Ron's honor to the Smithsonian Institution .