DAVID JAMES SMITH
August 1, 1917/January 25, 1998
Parents: William & Anne Smith
Wife - Elizabeth Bredin
Son: William Duane
My Uncle Dave was one of the best.
He was a Game Warden for the State of Maryland and a professional photographer of the highest degree for the Maryland State Game and Inland Fish Commission. Several of his photographs are hanging in Westminster Abby in England - gifts from the State of Maryland to Queen Elizabeth, I am lucky enough to have a full sized copy of one of them in my home. Many of his movies are still being shown in schools all across the country today in connection with ecology and conservation. They are timeless in their content.
When I was very young - sometime in the late 1940's - Our family and his lived next door to each other on Orlando Avenue in Hamilton, Baltimore City, Maryland. Once he made an arrow out of a piece of wood shingle and and using a leather strap he threw that arrow up into the sky - so high it went out of sight (figuring where it was coming down was a bit tricky). It was a feat I'll remember forever and as of this date have not been able to duplicate. It's funny how little things like that make a lasting impression. I can remember what he and my father were wearing. I can remember Uncle Dave sitting on a large rock at the entrance to our horseshoe shaped driveway off Orlando Avenue and he carved the arrow with his pocket knife ....
He flew model planes also. He taught me how. His practice plane was a blue, balsa wood and paper thing, small maybe 20 inch wing span. He flew it at Double Rock Park. I can remember times when he would crack it up, put all the pieces he could find in a box, take it home and carefully, lovingly, put it back together again ready to fly another day. What I can't remember was the number of times it crashed (it was a lot) and got fixed. That plane still exists today.
He taught me how to fish and hunt. Aunt Nellie fixed my hurts and calmed my fears. She was a beautiful lady with lots of class.
My Aunt and Uncle have given me memories that can't be purchased at any price. I tell my sons about them. I have taught my children some of the things Uncle Dave and Aunt Nellie taught me. Although I miss them terribly they will always live in my heart and the hearts of my sons and their children, etc.
It's a good thing.
