James Dennis Smith

JAMES DENNIS SMITH

(APRIL 5, 1947 – May 25, 2024)

          He was a man known by many names: Jimmy, Twin, James Dennis Smith (when he really irked his mother-which he could often do), JimJerry, Jim, Mr. Smith, Coach Smith, Daddy/Dad, Gramps, and Mr. Jim.

          Jimmy was born on April 5, 1947 as the elder (by 10 minutes) of identical twin sons to W. W. (Bill) Smith, Jr. and Frances Madalyn Smith.  As a sign of their status as identical twins, James Dennis was to be called Jimmy while his mirror twin brother was named Jerald Ennis and called Jerry.  The twins, in addition to being the most identical of identical twins, claimed to be “pure” Smiths since their mother was born a Smith and married a Smith.

          Jimmy graduated 5^th in the class of 1965 at Plano High School where he starred in football and baseball.  After a year at SMU, where he found out he couldn’t hit the fast ball or the curve ball against Southwest Conference freshman pitching, Jim finished his education at NTSU in 1969 with a B.S. in Elementary Education with Honors and a Math concentration. While at NTSU, he served in the positions of both Vice President and President of Blue Key National Honor Society.

          It was during a visit with his brother at NTSU in December of 1965 that Jerry arranged a “blind” date for Jimmy.  Jimmy met Judie Ledbetter and dated her until they were married on July 26, 1968 at Albany, Texas.  It was while he was dating Judie that he was baptized into Christ. 

          In 1969, Jim Smith began a 30-year career teaching, coaching, and being a school administrator in a number of public and private elementary, middle and high schools across the state of Texas. He was fortunate to be named head baseball coach at the age of 25 at Bonham High School.   There, for 2 seasons, Coach Smith had the opportunity to coach Danny Darwin, the “Bonham Bullet”, who played Major League Baseball as a pitcher for a number of teams until he was 43-years old. Oh, if coaching any sport was going to be so easy and honored—NOT!!   

On October 5, 1972, Jim Smith took on the name Daddy/Dad with the birth of his and Judie’s son, Christopher Scott Smith.  Being a diligent coach who didn’t want to miss workouts or games, Coach Smith was happy when Christopher’s birth was a week overdue and came during open week of that football season.

          At Bonham, Coach Smith published the first of 8 coaching articles in TEXAS COACH.  One of his later articles was a collaboration with his brother Jerry (not a coach) that was selected as TEXAS COACH: ARTICLE of the YEAR, 1976-77.   Jim’s Aledo Bearcats football team was ranked No. 1 in Class AA throughout the entire 1976 season.  Jerry was only able to attend one game that year—the bi-district contest of Aledo vs Clifton at a snow-banked Cleburne stadium.   The Bearcats lost 13-7 in the last 76-seconds of the contest.  When Jim returned home following his Saturday morning football duties, Jerry had written and left a poem expressing his impressions of the game.  Coach Smith wrote a story surrounding the poem, entitled the article “When Losing Is Winning” and submitted it to TEXAS COACH.   It was selected, at the following THSCA Coaches Conference, the best article of the previous season. 

In addition to that honor, Coach Smith had the privilege of coaching as an assistant or as a head football coach 11 district champions, 3 of which reached the state semi-finals game, and one, the 1974 Aledo Bearcats, which lost the Class AA State Championship game 19-18 when the Bearcats’ last-minute two-point attempt to win the state championship failed by inches.

 In 1976, Coach Jim Smith was named the Greater Fort Worth Area Fellowship of Christian Athletes Christian Coach of the Year 1976-77 for his work with FCA and success with his athletes and coaches at Aledo High School.  Coach Smith was also named the TAPPS Division II, District II Football Coach of the Year at Fort Worth Christian High School in 1985.  Mr. Smith, as Principal of Cullens-Lake Point Elementary School, was named the Rockwall ISD Administrator of the Year in 1990-91.

On October 5, 1991 Jim married Margaret Ann Haker, his high school sweetheart from some 25 years prior.  For her wedding gift, Jim presented her with a 19-year-old son, Christopher, who was already potty-trained and was a freshman at Texas A&M—WHOOP!  As they settled in Murphy, just east of Plano, Jim assisted Margaret in taking care of her parents’ acreage for more than 20 years.  In addition, Margaret and Jim saw to the caretaking of her dad and mother, Jim’s dad, and Margaret’s cousin for over a period of 25 combined years.

After retiring from the school business, Jim started a second career as a customer service rep and, later, as Southwest Branch Manager for Johnson Plastics, the #2 national plastics distributorship in the U.S. in the Awards and Recognition Industry.  Jim retired from JP when his grandson, Cortland Smith, began his kindergarten days at Carrollton Prince of Peace Christian School.

  Over Cortland’s 13-year school career at Prince of Peace Christian School, Gramps served in a number of volunteer positions at the school and averaged over 200 volunteer hours each year. He was named the Lower School Volunteer of the Year in 2006-07.   Gramps and his son Chris helped coach Cortland’s T-Ball and Coach-Pitch teams and assisted in the start the POPCS football program. It was then, when he was working alongside Chris as assistant coach, score keeper, statistician, clock operator, spotter, PA announcer, football game reporter for DMN Sports Day and the POPCS school newspapers, and watching Cortland play at The Star in Frisco, that Dad/Gramps received so much joy to be sharing in the games of football and baseball with HIS boys-Chris and Cortland.  During this time, Jim also earned his 5-year pin for service as a twice-a-week volunteer for Scott & White Baylor Garland Medical Center.  Jim also graduated from the Murphy Citizens Police Academy and served on the City’s first Citizens on Patrol (C.O.P.) unit in 2010-2011.

Two of the items on Jim’s Bucket List were provided to him by Chris, Robin, and Cortland.  In October, 2011, Chris took his Dad to a Texas Ranger vs St. Louis Cardinals World Series baseball game in which they were able to see the Cardinals’ Albert Pujos tie a World Series record set previously by the great Babe Ruth—slugging 3 home runs in a single World Series game.  The second Bucket List item was when Dad/Gramps was treated to the Texas Rangers Spring Training Camp in Surprise, Arizona in 2015 for a week of baseball and bonding with Chris. 

Among his travels around the state in and out of coaching, Jim served more than 20 years in greeters ministries at North Richland Hills Church of Christ (now The Hills), Farmers Branch Church of Christ (now The Branch) and Greenville Oaks Church of Christ in Allen.  At GOCC, Jim served primarily at the southwest entrance doors for more than 12 years and came to be called Mr. Jim by his “southwest door family.”

A man of many names for a man of many positions.  The names that meant the most to him were Jim, Coach, Dad, Gramps and Mr. Jim.  As we celebrate the life of Jim Smith, he would wish that each of you could put “encourager” by the name or list of names by which you personally knew Jim Smith. 

James Dennis Smith was preceded in death by his parents Bill and Frances Smith of Plano, his grandparents W.W. (Bill) and Leva Smith, Sr. of Plano, and grandparents E.C. Smith and Cottie Smith of Dallas. 

He is survived by his loving wife and caretaker, Margaret Haker Smith of Murphy, his steadfast and beloved son Christopher Smith and daughter-in-law Robin of Corinth, and his adored grandson Cortland Oran Smith of College Station, Texas.

In addition, Jim is survived by his twin brother Jerald Ennis (Jerry) Smith and wife Phyllis of Humble, sister Madalyn Minton and husband Gary of Waxahachie, Chris’ mother, Judie Crocker of Breckenridge, Tx, and special friends Phil and Cookie Foster of Murphy and their daughter, Carrie Parker of Arlington, Va.   A number of nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family, friends and his “southwest door family at GOCC” also grieve his passing.

Services for Jim will be held at the Charles W. Smith and Sons Funeral Home, Sachse, Tx on Tuesday, June 4 at 2 pm.  Burial will take place at the Sachse, Tx Cemetery under the direction of Charles W. Smith and Sons Funeral Homes.  Jim requested that memorials be made in his honor to St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital, The Samaritan Inn of Collin County, or to the Greenville Oaks Church of Christ Community Care Fund.