Walter Smith

Walter J. Smith, 94, longtime resident of Madison, CT and for the last three years of Chambersburg, PA, passed away on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 in the Quincy United Methodist Home in Waynesboro. Born on December 15, 1922 in Troy, NY, he was a son of the late Walter S. Smith and Kerstine Jensen Smith. He grew up in New York City's Washington Heights, graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and spent summers in Madison with his aunts, Anna Parmalee and Elizabeth King. Following graduation, he enrolled at the University of Arizona and played on the football team until the start of WWII when he withdrew to join the U.S. Army Air Corps and later the U.S. Merchant Marine. Having served his country faithfully, he returned to Madison to marry the love of his life Dorothy Grove Smith. They were joyously married for 70 years until her death in 2014. For nearly half a century, he ran his own business in Madison - The WJ Smith Siding and Windows Company. He loved reading and crossword puzzles and was a frequent visitor to the Scranton Library. He loved travel and to tell tales of his trips crossing the country by train or in the wheelhouse of a freighter bound for New Zealand. He combined that love with his fondness for baseball in annual trips to Florida or Arizona where he frequently attended spring training. He enjoyed returning to his birthplace Troy NY and nearby Cooperstown to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Movie-star handsome and a legendary dancer, he and Dot hosted countless memorable parties for their family and friends at their longtime home on Whedon Lane. He is survived by his devoted daughter, Kerstine "Teen" Scritchfield of Chambersburg; grandson, Tyler J. Harold and his wife Jennifer; two great- grandsons, Aidan and Evan Harold, and nephews and nieces Barry and Maggie Grove, Maryanne Grove and Mark Sturges, Deborah Johnson, Pamela Stacy and Carol Whiteman. He was preceded in death by a son, Walter J. Smith, Jr. Arrangements, entrusted to the Thomas L. Geisel Funeral Home, are private. In lieu of flowers' memorial contributions may be made to the Scranton Memorial Library, 801 Boston Post Road, Madison CT, 06443.