Howard Smith

Howard Thomas Smith was born in 1926 in Rochester, New York, and grew up in North Carolina as the child of a career military father. Howard served in the army for two years. He came to Clearwater, Florida in 1947, where he was a Boy Scout master, a volunteer position. He was the District Scout Executive of the Boys Scouts of America from 1955 to 1976. He then obtained his real estate license and was a property manager in the Clearwater area from 1976 to 1988, when he retired. From Oct. 2000 to 2008, he worked part time for Nielson Media Research, after which he retired due to ill health.

Howard joined the Suncoast Genealogy Society (SGS) in March, 1990 and was elected President in April 1994 serving two terms, from 1 May 1994 to 30 April 1996.  During his term of office, he initiated the genealogy volunteer assistance program in the reference department at the Palm Harbor Library, 1 to 4 PM Monday through Friday. This program is still in effect and Howard continued to volunteer a minimum of one day a week until April, 2013. He conducted a volunteer orientation course at the library, as well as a genealogy course for five reference librarians who wanted to learn about genealogy to better serve their clients. He worked with the reference department to secure a file cabinet for the genealogy microfiche, making it assessable to researchers. He assisted the Youth Librarian in the selection of Boy Scout books for the children=s section. He also worked as a liaison between the library and the society in determining items for acquisition for the genealogy collection. He was consistent in encouraging SGS members to participate in the 50/50 book purchase program to further grow the collection. 

While President, Howard partnered our society with the Pinellas Genealogy Society to canvas all the cemeteries in Pinellas County. Howard participated in the canvassing of Midway Cemetery in 1997.

In 1994 and 1995, Howard was invited to the Joseph L. Carwise Middle School, in Palm Harbor, to give starter tips on genealogy to gifted students in the 8th grade. He visited the class several more times to give added assistance. The teacher and her students visited a society meeting and the children gave a presentation of what they had learned about their genealogy.

In 1995, Howard began teaching the first of several 7 week basic genealogy courses at the Palm Harbor Library. His classes brought many new members to SGS.

In 1996, as seminar chairman, Howard partnered SGS with the Personal Ancestry File (PAF) Users Group to co-sponsor Seminar '96 featuring Joan Lowrey as the guest speaker.  Also in 1996, he was selected to be the SGS delegate to the FGS conference in Rochester, NY.

In 1998, Howard received an Outstanding Service Award from SGS. Howard was the Chairman of the Society=s annual seminar in 1998 with Sandra Maclean Clunies as the guest speaker. In 2003 the Society held an Open House in place of a seminar and Howard presented a class on beginning genealogy during that event. He was also served on the committee for the Suncoast Seminar 2005.

Also in 1998 Howard was featured in an article in the Palm Harbor Panther newspaper, titled Outstanding Library Volunteers by Debby Mayne.

Howard was on the Board of Directors of the SGS in 1996, 1998, and 2002-2008. He served on the nominating committee and as chairman of the library volunteers. He participated in the Palm Harbor Historical Society open house representing the SGS. He presented many lectures on various genealogy topics.  Howard regularly presented Howard's Minute at the SGS monthly meeting where he would introduce one new genealogy web site.

In addition to the scheduled programs he presented, offices held and committees worked on, Howard was always the first to volunteer to help. He could be depended on to step in at a moment's notice to cover when speakers were unable to make the meeting. He willingly played the role of "Regis Philbin" for a program of "Who Wants to be a Genealogist?" presented at a society Christmas party.  Howard had been working on his own genealogy since 1954.  His years of research, before the era of the computer, had given him a wealth of knowledge about where to find records and he generously shared this knowledge with others. He was always available on a one to one basis to the SGS members for any help they may have needed, from using the census, advice on what to do next, or installing a genealogy program on a home computer.

Howard was also very active in other organizations. In 1993, he became a member of the Tampa Bay Computer Society (TBCS) since 1993. He was Secretary of TBCS from 1997-2000, on the Board of Directors for many years. He conducted two Genealogy Special Interest Groups on Wednesday afternoons and Thursday evenings, for TBCS since 1995. He taught a seven week genealogy course for them. Since 1995, he worked in the TBCS resource center weekly helping computer users with computer problems, helping with the society library, and answering genealogy questions. He received a Certificate of Appreciation in December 2000 as Secretary.

In an article in the Spring 2005 issue of the Pinellas Genealogist, a publication of the Pinellas Genealogy Society (PGS), there was a tribute to Howard on page 22. Pete Summers wrote, AI was attending a computer special interest group… Howard Smith was the leader and proved himself as helpful as he was knowledgeable. I strongly recommend Howard>s SIG.@ Howard was a former member of the PGS where he was on the Board of Directors and assisted twice a week with the genealogy volunteer program in the Largo Library. He also participated as an instructor at one PGS Seminar. He was also a former member of the Personal Ancestral File Users group at the Largo Family History Center. He served on the Board of Directors and presented several programs on the use of the PAF Program.

Howard shared his knowledge and love of genealogy through many community activities. He presented lectures for various community groups. Howard also assisted two local attorneys in searching for heirs of estates. With time and diligence, he helped find heirs going back three generations.

Howard turned 86 on his last birthday in November 2012.

A memorial service will be held at 2 PM on Tuesday, October 22, 2013 at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension http://churchofascension.org, 701 Orange Avenue, Clearwater.

Please sign the guestbook below.