Remembering a real 'nice guy'

When you can’t be anything else, you can always be kind.

Or, as Lee Smith’s mother would say, “Just be nice.”

Throughout his life, Smith strived to live up his mother’s motto, and he said it served him well. With his passing on Oct. 12, Southeast Texas is missing Smith’s natural kindness, and will gather to remember the “nice guy” during a Celebration of Life service at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

As told in the Black History Month story that celebrated Smith while he was on this earth, the future Port of Beaumont Port Commission President arrived in Beaumont at just 2 years old, making his way here with mom Ossie May (Nealey) Smith and father Tenolian Smith from Madisonville, a town that now boasts a population of about 4,000.

“My dad came here because he had a job here,” Smith recounted of his family’s relocation. But that wasn’t all that was here – the Smiths had family here, as well, and the household grew. Lee said Beaumont’s “little big town” was a great place to grow up. He, his two brothers and one sister, were raised in the city’s north end, where Smith remembered going to Martin Elementary School and working on his mother’s nerves with his siblings.

“She took care of all the hardheads,” Smith said of his mother, blushing slightly about his own childhood antics. But, aside from keeping the hardheads in line, Ossie May Smith also instilled in her son that a good attitude would take him far in life. For starters, it took him right into the heart of his better half, who now goes by the name LaRue Smith.

“I’ve been blessed with a good wife,” Smith said. The couple met at Prairie View A&M University, where he studied industrial management. It was in an English class the two locked eyes. The rest is history. “I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

Smith’s luck was hit-and-miss during those years. Lee graduated in 1965, and on March 26, 1966, he and LeRue were wed. Two months later, in May 1966, an overseas war threatened to separate the pair. The fresh college graduate and new groom was drafted into the U.S. Army at the height of the Vietnam War. At Fort Polk however, it was readily apparent that Smith was just as valuable at home as he could be overseas.

“A sergeant came to me and said, ‘Hey, Smith, you sure are a nice guy to have around.’”

The senior officer meant to keep it that way, too. Instead of shipping out, Smith was kept on base as the mess hall cook.

“Since I could go back-and-forth to Beaumont frequently, I jumped on the opportunity,” he said.

Two years later, though, it was time for Smith to move on. In 1968, as equal rights movements gained previously-withheld access to constitutional rights, Smith was up for a position as the first minority to be employed with what was then known as Texas U.S. Chemical Company.

“When I went there,” Smith said, “they had just passed the Voting Rights Act a few years before. They were just getting to, you know, implementing it. They told me they had government contracts and they needed to hire (minorities).”

Few were chosen; fewer still made it a career.

“I was there for 35 years,” he said. “I started as a mail clerk and then I moved into management.”

Smith was a boss when he retired after nearly four decades of working for the same company. Finished with one career, it was no time before Smith picked up another career.

“Just before I retired, I met Pete Shelton …,” Smith began, telling a story of friendship and mutual respect that would span the next couple decades. Shelton told Smith that they needed a new Port Commissioner as then-port rep Everett “Bo” Alfred was elected as a County Commissioner. The remaining port commissioners were tasked with finding a replacement for the departing member. “They interviewed 13 people.”

They picked Smith. That was 18 years ago. Although he was up for election every six years since 2001, Smith never drew an opponent. In 2018, when Shelton stepped down from the President of the Board of Commissioners position he’s held since 2001, Smith was nominated to fill his mentor’s former role. On May 21, 2018, Commissioner Lee Smith was appointed president of the Port of Beaumont Board of Commissioners. Smith, who served as vice president from 2013-2018, is the first African American to serve as board president.

The Port of Beaumont is responsible for more than 12,608 jobs in the region and approximately $1.8 billion in economic output annually, ranking it fifthin the nation in terms of tonnage and third in the nation in terms of growth, according to Forbes.

“I try to be personal, and a good person,” Smith said of his approach on the job. “Be fair. Be straight. That’s real important.” Above all, “Just be nice. My mother always told me to be nice to people. Be kind. It’s worked for me.”

Smith, 79, of Beaumont, passed away on Tuesday, Oct. 12, in Beaumont, Texas. The Celebration Service celebrating his life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, 1175 Isla Street in Beaumont, with Entombment Service to follow at Live Oak Memorial Park and Cemetery under the direction of Mercy Funeral Home. A public visitation will be held on Friday, Oct. 22,  from 12 – 5 p.m. at Mercy Funeral Home Chapel, and on Saturday, Oct. 23,  from 9 – 11 a.m. at the church. The practice of social distancing and facial masks are required.

Smith, a devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, beloved son, brother and brother-in-law, compassionate uncle and cousin, faithful friend and a Christian man of service, was preceded in death by his parents, brother Tenolian Smith Jr., and sister Iva Nell Hawkins.

A respected leader in his community, Smith lived a life of service. He served his local community and the city of Beaumont in the following capacities: Trustee and usher at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, vice-president and president of the Port of Beaumont Board of Commissioners, president of the Melton YMCA Board of Directors and Little League Baseball Organization, member of the Metropolitan YMCA Board of Directors, president and founder of the North End Neighborhood Association, service officer of the Dorie E. Miller Post 817 of the American Legion, directed the Post 817 Veterans Day project of placing American flags on graves of veterans, organized the Ameripol Synpol Thanksgiving Food Drive, hospitality chairman of the Charlton-Pollard High School Alumni Association, member of the NAACP, Beaumont Main Street Board and City of Beaumont Adjustment Board.

Cherished memories of Smith will be shared by his beloved wife, LaRue; daughter and son-in-law, Lesia and Stephen Linton; three grandchildren, Taylor, Ryan and Lauryn; brother and sister-in-law, Artie and Ruth Smith; brothers-and-sisters-in-law, Cecilia and Benjamin Taylor, Carolyn and Travis Curry; Dr. Leo C. McAfee Jr., and Patricia Owens, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Smith will also be sorely missed by the staff of The Examiner newspaper and Business Journal. A staunch supporter of the community, and an avid reader who stayed abreast of current events, he never missed a weekly issue of the newspaper or monthly installment of the latest business beat. He even made sure friends and neighbors never missed an issue, either, stopping by the office to retrieve extra copies for shut-ins every Thursday.

Always equipped with a smile and a kind word – or several – Smith was a welcome breath of fresh air enjoyed by all those he encountered. His legacy will live on as being, among a million other things, a real “nice guy.”