His life started on March 29, 1925 in Palo Alto, California as the third son of Ray and Ethel Smith. His life was normal until his 8th birthday in March 1933. Lee asked for and was gifted an airplane ride and that was the beginning of a long life and near obsession with all things aeronautical.

He took his first ride in a Kinner powered Consolidated "Fleet" operated by the Stanford School of Aeronautics and based at the Palo Alto airport.

Although there is no way to authenticate this, Lee believes it is highly possible that his first flight was piloted by Air Racing and movie stunt pilot Paul Mantz, at that time a flight instructor for the school.

In 1943 on Lee's 18th birthday, he took all the necessary tests to qualify for the Army Air Corps cadet program. He was accepted and in late 1943 he took basic training in Amarillo, Texas. While attending college at Oklahoma A&M Lee continued with the Air Corps Training Program and had some hours in an L-4 before attending Pre-Flight in San Antonio, February 1944. Unfortunately, he came down with Scarlet Fever during this period which set him back in his training 4-5 weeks. Lees class of bombardiers had left for duty and now his future was in question. He spent 6 weeks at Randolph Field servicing aircraft, some time at Sheppard Field in Texas and then to radio school in Madison, Wisconsin. Chanute Field, Illinois was electronics school and finally to Boca Raton, Florida to train as a RADAR operator/mechanic. During training WWII ended in Europe, and the countermeasures training was not needed in the Pacific. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant in March 1946.

Lee started working after the War with the May Department Store in Los Angeles and later with a small local advertising agency. His career was in advertising in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, rising to the position of Vice President, Director of Print Production for a major international advertising agency.

Married very young and had two sons James and Michael. The marriage worked for 8 years then stopped working. Lee and his wife divorced, but the love of his sons continued on. Both sons served in Vietnam. Michael passed away on New Year?€™s morning in a California hospital many years ago, and Jim is still with us. Lee says his resume is far and away more interesting than his. Lee married his current wife and had one amazing daughter, who loves all things aviation like her Dad.

Eventually Lee relocated to Northern Virginia in 1994 working part time for a software publisher, retiring in 1998. Lee became a docent at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, Udvar Hazy Center. He considers this his dream job and has worked as a docent for 15 years. He has made wonderful friends both in the Docent Corps and among the Visitors to the Museum.

Lee's words, "I have been blessed with a good family, a successful career, a dream assignment and countless wonderful friends. My life has been okay". We, Thursday crew of docents and others, must say Lee, your life has been exemplary, loving and productive. Raising very successfully children who are successful in their own right and who love you above all else. Given all this, we believe Lee M. Smith?€™s life is way more than okay. You always walk away from Lee Smith feeling better about yourself and the project you were working on. That takes a lot of Character. It is a privilege to place Lee M. Smith on the Wall of Honor and honor this man of Great Character.

Paul Stone, Thursday Docent Lead
Larry McKinley, NASM Docent