McMinnville Housing Authority has lost a founding member of its board with the resignation of Charles L. Smith.
A reception for Smith was held at Central Church of Christ. In attendance were family and friends, as well as fellow board members. Each spoke of Smith’s generosity, kindness and dedication to his community through community service.
Smith expressed his gratitude and told a story of Clyde Winters, who announced his retirement from the Rotary Club and a similar reception was held for him.
“Clyde told the club one day that he was fixing to resign,” said Smith. “He was in his 90s. He was older than most people in the club. On the day of his resignation, the president of the club asked a couple members to give a short talk pertaining to him. When that time came, they said some very nice things about him. Some real nice things were said. When they got done, the president asked ‘Mr. Winters is there anything you would like to say?’ Clyde thought a minute, stood up and said ‘I’ve heard so many nice things about me here today that I think I’ll just stay’ and he stayed.”
While the story brought laughter from the crowd and urging that he could also stay, Smith declined.
“I’ve heard some very nice things about me today, but I’m not going to stay,” said Smith. “I appreciate each of you. I means a lot to me. It really does.”
Smith was appointed as a commissioner to the McMinnville Housing Authority Board on Dec. 6, 1958, when the Housing Authority was organized by the city of McMinnville. He has served continuously since that date, a total of 58 years.
After the charter was granted by the state of Tennessee and the first official meeting of the Board of Commissioners was held on March 18, 1959, Smith was elected vice chairman at the first meeting. He was elected as chairman in 1983 to fill the vacancy left after the passing of Elvin Spangler on June 5.
Smith was reappointed 11 times to serve on the board by McMinnville mayors.
Mayor Jimmy Haley presented Smith with a proclamation declaring Feb. 14 as Charles Smith Day in the city of McMinnville.
“As mayor, this is one of my fun things to do,” said Haley. “People call about dogs and garbage not being picked up and are mad all the time, but this is the part that’s kind of fun when we give shout-outs to community leaders who give so much to the community and dedicate their lives to improving the quality of life and making the city of McMinnville a great place to live.”
Haley says McMinnville Housing Authority offers less fortunate people suitable housing and individuals like Smith volunteered their time to ensure fairness in the administration of housing authority policies.
“Public housing freed a lot of people from a life of toil and trouble, shacks and shanties, and below-standard housing,” said Haley. “The Housing Authority filled a huge void in the lives of lots of people and it’s a well-run agency. I see how well it is run and the devotion of all of those who serve on the commission.”
Smith’s position on the board was filled by Warren County resident Barry King.