Raleigh-Summers County WV Archives Biographies.....Smith, Billy Lee March 8, 1936 - June 10, 1949
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Eva Smith Stella_Gadd@yahoo.com March 8, 2009, 6:01 pm

Author: Eva Smith

Billy Lee and Bobby Earl Smith

Billy Lee Smith was born 08 Mar 1936 in Abraham, Raleigh County, West 
Virginia, the first child of Earl George Smith (21 Mar 1914/07 Apr 1986) and 
wife Golda Mae Vest (03 Jan 1911/23 Feb 1991). Billy drowned on 10 Jun 1949 
while swimming with friends in a mine pond near his White Oak Mountain home. 

On that day in June, Billy, 13, was supposed to paint the front porch. But his 
friends showed up and his mother let him go swimming.

His father had previously checked out a pond where the boys had been swimming 
to make sure it was safe. But Mr. and Mrs. Smith didn’t know the boys had 
found another place to swim, the pond where Billy died.

The death notice in the Beckley Post-Herald (11 Jun 1949, Page 5) said Billy 
died in a “mud hole near the Wilcox Coal company strip mine.” The headline 
was “Shady Spring Boy Is Drowned In Hole Near Strip Mine.” Billy “apparently 
waded out into the water-hole, stepped off into deep water and was unable to 
swim out.”

Billy’s friends heard his cries for help but thought he was joking. “Leslie 
Hatfield, a company employee, recovered the boy’s body from the water.” The 
Beckley Fire Department arrived and used a respirator on Billy but state 
police said he had been in the water too long and couldn’t be saved. 

The newspaper article said Dr. J.W. Stokes “who examined the body when it was 
removed to the Meadow Funeral home at Hinton, stated that he died of 
accidental drowning.” Billy’s death certificate (W.Va. Certificate of Death 
9549) signed by Dr. Stokes said the cause of death was “drowning (due to) 
unconscious when struck head on rock.” A notation says Billy “dived in pond & 
hit head on rock.”

Billy was buried in the Smith Cemetery on the White Oak Mountain farm that had 
originally belonged to his maternal grandparents Leonard Haliburton Vest (27 
Nov 1880/20 Mar 1960) and wife Emma Stella Gadd (23 May 1879/24 Jan 1965). Mr. 
and Mrs. Smith had bought the property from the elder couple. (Note: Earl’s 
parents were George W. Smith (30 Jun 1860/06 Apr 1940) and wife Emma Biars (20 
Jul 1878/26 Aug 1967) of Abraham.)

Billy’s death was especially tragic because his parents were still grieving 
the loss of another son. Two years before Billy’s death, the Smiths were 
living at Jumping Branch in Summers County when their son Bobby Earl Smith, 7, 
died of complications of scarlet fever. Bobby was the first to be buried in  
Smith Cemetery. (Bobby's obituary says he was buried in the "Vest cemetery." 
The name was later changed to Smith Cemetery to avoid confusion with the 
nearby Vest Cemetery on the former property of Leonard’s brother Ethiel B. 
Vest (06 Feb 1925/10 Sep 1995).) 

Bobby Earl was born 30 Aug 1938 in Abraham. His mother said Bobby was a 
scrappy little guy who would defend his quiet older brother Billy. The 
brothers liked to tease each other as evidenced by a Dec. 11, 1943, letter 
from Billy to his cousin James Euell Fox of Abraham. Billy wanted to buy a BB 
gun from his cousin.

In the letter to Jimmie, Billy said “Bob and sister are fat. They drink milk. 
I drink coffee and dad (drinks) coffee…Bob still sucks his thumb.” Mrs. Smith 
added a postscript for Bobby: “Bob wants you to know that mother gives Bill 
his bath yet.” Billy wrote, “No she don’t give me (a) bath. She has to give 
Bob his bath.” The letter was signed “Bill and Bob.”  Mr. Fox  (25 Jul 1929/21 
Jan 2001) kept the letter his whole life and, after his death, the letter was 
given to the Smith family.

Bobby had scarlet fever and was thought to be recovering. Then there were 
complications. Bobby was taken to Hinton Hospital in Summers County. He was 
doing better and his father went back home to rest. Earl was called back to 
the hospital when Bobby took a turn for the worse. Bobby died on 21 March 
1946, his father’s birthday. Bobby’s obituary – Bobby E. Smith Taken By Death –
 said his death “was attributed to acute neuphritis, complications of scarlet 
fever.” (W.Va. Certificate of Death 3659)

The deaths of their two sons left Earl and Golda with a daughter, Emma Ellen, 
born in 1943. They had a second daughter, Eva Mae, in 1951. 


Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/raleigh/photos/bios/smith19gbs.jpg

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