This memorial website was created in the memory of our beloved Lonnie Smith who was born in Nashville, AR on 14th February 1950 and passed away on 20th February 2014, 64 years of age. Lonnie Smith was born a twin on February 14, 1950, in Nashville, Arkansas, the seventh and last child born of Arronie Barksdale Smith and Annie May Smith. Lonnie had a twin brother Ronnie and one older brother, Johnny. He also had four sisters, Ann, Betty, Mary and Bobbie. Sadly, he has been preceded in death by all of the above except a brother Johnny and a sister Betty. He also leaves behind three children, Deanna, Thomas, and Erin, children of Sandy and himself and a daughter Tina from his first marriage. He also leaves an abundance of grandchildren and only last night (Jan. 24, 2014) became a great grandfather for the first time. He made Houston his home most of the time but he and his twin brother spent many years following the storms……tornados, hurricanes and such, being carpenters and roofers working at whatever needed to be done. He enjoyed that type of life. He and his brother both married but neither marriage took because the twins were so close and were gone a lot with their work and didn’t have it built into them to settle down I think. They were both heavy drinkers and enjoyed just being together, whether working or drinking afterward. When Lonnie was only 23 years old, when on some construction job, a compressor fell from two stories above and crushed his lower spine. He was born with an abnormal six lower vertebras instead of the normal five and his twin ended up with only four. The repair to his back was not done properly so he endured three more back surgeries through the years with metal plates and screws added at one point and some type of machine that he wasn’t even told was there. He still worked as much as he could. He then had three strokes, one major that kept him paralyzed on one side for about a year. He didn’t even let that get him down. He did all he could to get back enough of his body to go back to work. Finally, after the year 2000, he was not able to do much of anything in the way of working. He would have such back pain that he would have to stop. His back at this date, as the neurologist said, was that he could have no more surgeries on it, that too many people had been in there already and if he even wasted a day working on him that Lonnie would probably come out paralyzed. He held up his two hands about six or seven inches apart, palms open, and told him that a normal person’s vertebra were spaced like this……….and then he slapped his palms together and said, ”This is where yours are”, that the top one was lying on the bottom one. He said the spine was crushed and the discs, vertebra, the machine, the metal bolts and screws and the scar tissue were all melded together and no one needed to ever open his back up again. He said he was amazed that Lonnie could walk into his office instead of being in a wheelchair, but then he didn’t know the Lonnie that we did. Lonnie has lived with pain so long that it has become a way of life. He knew he couldn’t get better but he wanted to be out of pain enough to do something instead of just be a vegetable in a chair or a hospital bed. Lonnie’s life for the past few years has included a wheelchair, a wheelchair ramp, a hospital bed, a cane, a lift chair, a shower seat, a portable bedside potty chair, pull-up diapers, urinal and a walker. We don’t need to remember all of that when we remember him. We need to remember his rich and wonderful voice and his guitar playing. He never needed a microphone. His voice would reach you without one. I have seen him many times sing as many as eight hours without stopping and he never sang the same song twice and never missed a lick, a word or a chord doing it. Those are the days I cherish, except for the alcohol that went along with it. I am proud of him so very much that he got down on his knees in about the year 2009 and asked the Lord to take the craving for alcohol away from him. God did it instantly and Lonnie has said that he never had the desire to take a drink of anything again and he hasn’t. Lonnie has always been a spiritual man. He has always had a deep belief in God and he always, every day, prays for his loved ones and anyone that is sick or needs prayer. He knows the power of prayer. He was married for about fifteen years to his former (second) wife Sandy. Every time he pulled through another crisis, he would tell the surprised doctor that he knew he would because he had a praying mother and a praying wife. Sandy has never quit praying for him even to this day. She is an angel here on earth and has been a world of strength and love for both of us through all of the hard times we have had since I have been his caregiver. I am not sure that I could have held on as long as I did as his caregiver without Sandy’s strength and prayers pulling me onward. One short story I would like to tell you about Lonnie Smith is about a little old widow lady that lived in shack of a house. She was poor and couldn’t afford supplies nor labor for anything. He heard that her bathroom floor was rotted and falling through from too much overflowing or something. He got some friends together and they came up with the tools and materials and went to her house and put a new floor in and I think a new fixture or two. Anyway, when they left and her bathroom was all repaired, she told him again that she had no money to pay him. He told her that he wanted no money. She said, “God Bless you young man.” He told her, “No, God bless YOU, he has already blessed me.” This is just one story of things that he would do for people in need. Things like this happened very often. Lonnie was the first real gentleman that I ever met. I have known him since 1982 and nothing about him has changed in that respect. He is still a wonderful, considerate, kind and loving human being. He treats everyone with respect, tells no off color jokes and if there are women present and some man starts to tell one, Lonnie would leave the room. He said it wasn’t proper to talk about things like that in front of a lady. Since I have been his caregiver, 12 years at this writing, he has never failed to ask me EVERY day, “Have I told you today that I love you?” So Lonnie, I love you too and will miss you so much. It will be so empty here in my house without you but sweetheart, you will be out of pain and have a body without flaws and I know where to find you later because God knows what a good and Christian man that you are and maybe he needs another good singer in his choir, who knows? I am going to try to live a good life so that God will let me in to see you later. You have been a big part of my life and I love you for all of the kind things you have done for me and the wonderful way that you have treated my family, which by the way, consider YOU a part of our family too. Goodbye for now but look over your shoulder, your loved ones aren’t far behind. May God Bless and keep you and reward you for your life. You have given your life to the Lord and I know you are a very deep and serious Christian. I thank you for being in our lives and giving us so much joy and sharing your faith and hope with me when I needed it. So go rest high on that mountain, your work on earth is done. We will now hear the same song played again that is sung by Vern Gosdin entitled “Praying” because it was Lonnie’s special wish that it be played twice. He wanted it played twice, once for him and once for his twin brother Ronnie. Then we will put this shell of a body in a grave because that is what has to be done but remember this………..Lonnie is not in this grave. He is with his Heavenly Father with all of his lost loved ones that have passed over before him. We have enjoyed him, loved him, cared for him but the time now is for the wonderful memories of the days he was well. We do NOT want to remember any of the memories of his last days. He would not want that to even cross our minds. Goodbye my precious, special friend. You will be missed by everyone whose life you touched. I still love you, Norma Renfro