My first memories of Bill Smith was when I would go to the old Bank of Commerce on the west side of the town square. Bill was a teller and he
would take my money that I had made selling eggs, and deposit it to my
savings account through the teller window for “Little
Savers”. I also remember my great uncle Sheila (Bush) Hawkins
working at the bank with Bill. We would always go and ask him a
question. He would always get excited and say, bush! bush! Then maybe he
would answer. But we would laugh because he would say bush! bush!.
To jump ahead a little, I remember when
they moved from the old bank location to the new location, where
Regions Bank is today. I remember them moving some of the money in a mule
drawn wagon, with Mr. George Gilley (Charlie Brown’s father)
driving the wagon, and Mrs. J.F. Adams riding shotgun, with the
Town’s only policeman, Jack Rains, riding in the back of the wagon with a
shotgun, guarding the money. One story Bill always told, was when a
gentleman came to him one day and asked him, “How did you get all of the
money moved from the old bank to the new bank?” Bill just smiled and
said, “Well that was easy, we just wrote a check for all of the money we
had in the bank, and when we got to the new bank, we cashed it”.
Another early memory of Bill, was when he oldest son, Mike, who was
about 6 years old, got run over getting off his school bus, in front of
their house on highway 70. The whole town was just crushed by the sad
news. Back in them days all of young boys would gather in the front yard
of the old hospital (Now the Cannon County School Board) and we would play
football. I remember one evening we were playing and it was getting late
and turning dark. I looked up at the
hospital, and I could see Mike’s hospital room, the shades were
drawn, but I could see Bill’s
silhouette through the shade, as he was standing at the foot of Mike’s
bed, with head down, praying. I remember that image just like it was
yesterday.
The good news was that Mike was going to pull through. The town
folks rejoiced. Then tragedy hits again. Some months later Mike came
down with Polio or Muscular Dystrophy. Again, the good news was, Mike
pulled through. I can still see Mike cutting those cedar trees and
selling them at their home on old 70S. Mike was younger than me, but he
was always an inspiration to me. I always said, “When things get tough,
the tough get going. And, when things are too tough for everybody else,
they are just right for me”. – That is what Mike Smith taught me. I also
remember Bill’s wife Dot Smith. She was a beautiful young woman who loved
Bill and her children Mike and Steve. She was very athletic, as I would
see her and Christine Dillon always playing basket ball together, having
fun and having a great time. Bill always had a story to tell. He said
that he was plowing with mules in a corn field one day, and R. D. McBroom
stopped and said, “Bill I just bought a brand new truck from Alexander
Chevrolet, and that he needed a driver.” Bill, said give me a couple
hours to find someone to finish plowing and I will get cleaned up and be
right there. That started his trucking with the McBroom Truck Lines in
McMinnville. Bill also told the story, that they were coming back from
Chattanooga one night with a truck load of pies, apple pies, still hot
right out of the factory. Well he said the highway patrol stopped them
around Monteagle, and wanted to know what they had in the truck. Bill and
his partner opened up the back of the truck and reached in there and
pulled out one of those hot pies, and said here try this. He said they
both took a bite, and a couple more pies, and said, well you boys can go
on now. Mr. Tip McBroom and his sons R.D. and Sam, sold the old McBroom
Truck Lines when the Union Moved in. R.D. and T McBroom moved back to
Woodbury, next to the Bill Smith farm, where WT McBroom and I are still
neighbors. Bill told me that as a young boy he would plow, using a team
of mules, the field where our house is located. He always said that field
was the best farm land in the county. After the trucking business, Bill
still trucked a little and began his career in the banking business. The
McBroom’s started a milk barn operation, milking about a 100 cows twice a
day, 365 days a year. Frances always said those were tough years, after
the good years in McMinnville. I always told her, that it was really a
blessing. She said how can that be a blessing? I said well, just think,
if you had not moved back to Woodbury, you would not have met me and
married me. So she was alright after I told her that story. Frances
loved Bill and had many stories they would tell when they were all at
McBroom Truck Lines and living as neighbors, and having Bill’s brother,
George, living next door also. Bill and George would help R.D. and WT.
I can still see George rounding up the cows on that spotted horse, riding
like the wind, and sitting high in the saddle like John Wayne. As a young
boy we worked with for Bill Smith and would haul hay all day, for several
days, in the hot July, August, and September months. We all worked hard,
but we had fun and a lot of laughter. Bill always reminded me of Paul
Bunyan, the lumber jack,who owned Babe the Blue Ox. He was a tough,
rough, and a strong man, always working hard, with great enthusiasm, and
having fun and laughing.
Nothing was too tough for him. Bill was like Paul Bunyan, a true work
horse by any measurement.
A big event for the community was the, “Beans and Cornbread Day”,
Bill was always doing great things for the town and county folks. I came
home from the wars one day and called my mother, “Granny
Stone”, who was not at home. I said where are you? She said I am in the
basement of the Bank picking beans. I said good, I will be
there in a minute, to see what picking beans meant. She was
preparing to cook the pinto beans, but first she would have to pick out
all of the little rocks and gravel that were mixed in with the
beans. I remember there was a small pile of rocks and gravel on the table
that she had separated out. I was shocked that there were rocks and
gravel in the bags of store bought pinto beans. Just think of the people
who broke their teeth off eating pinto beans. So, after that I always
looked for rocks when preparing dried pinto beans, and especially when
eating pinto beans. And believe me, they are there. Granny dearly loved
Bill Smith and the ladies that worked at the Bank of Commerce, she and
Tootsie and Hayden Scott cooked and prepared the beans and cornbread for
Bill for over 20 years. They also cooked many meals for the bank. And,
that same team cooked meals for the Lions Club for over 20 years. They
had fun and a lot of laughter working together.
I told Bill at his retirement reception at the bank, that I had
listed him on my military records as a Character Reference when I
signed up for the military 35 years ago and had kept it updated all those
years.
Bill Smith did a lot of good and great things for our community.
Beans and Cornbread Day, Cannon County Good Old Days, restoring the
Brevard House, Smith’s Funeral Home, working and helping to produce the
1995 Cannon County Pictorial History book, and others, because he didn’t
want us to forget our past, our proud heritage, and our proud history.
Bill Smith was a great ambassador for Woodbury,Cannon County, Tennessee,
and the United States of America. Bill Smith was a true example of a
model citizen, one for all to emulate. He was more than a great character
that we will always remember. He was a great supporter of the Veterans of
Cannon County. He was a good Christian man. I always said, “If
everyone was like Bill Smith, just think what a great country we would
have”. And, I also think about what is written in the Bible, that there
are Angels walking amongst us on earth. I believe that with all of heart.
Well, in my opinion, Bill Smith was one of those Angels. And I know that
he will keep an eye on us back here in dear old Woodbury and Cannon County.
