Roy Sidney Smith

January 12, 1931 – April 18, 2025

Roy Sidney Smith, age 94 of Mount Airy, passed away on April 18, 2025 following several months of declining health. Roy was born on January 12, 1931, in Cana, VA. He was the son of the late Culbert Erastus and Susan Etta Willard Smith. In 1951 he married the love of his life, Mildred Virginia King; they were together for over 70 years until Mildred’s death in 2022 and raised six children.

At a young age, Roy enlisted in the Army, serving in Okinawa during the Korean War, earning a National Defense Service Medal. After military service, he became a career truck driver for Hennis Freight Lines. Roy was never one to talk in great detail about his life, but occasionally he’d share stories. He’d entertain his kids by demonstrating how he marched while on guard duty, or at bedtime he’d sing songs in Japanese to help them fall asleep. No one knew if he was just inventing words. His trucking stories would sometimes involve dangerous chemical transports or collapsing bridges.

There was no doubt that Roy led a life devoted to his family. Gone for many days at a time, he often came home with plans for outings to the Blue Ridge Parkway, where he held contests to see who could name all the different types of fences at the Groundhog Mountain Picnic Area and embarrassed his kids by shouting “Break! Break!” out the car window whenever he saw couples on blankets kissing. Walking ahead of the kids while hiking, he’d sometimes hide dollar bills along the path. Many an evening he’d pile the kids into the family station wagon and drive to King for ice cream at the Dairi-O. Those car rides were usually accompanied by the roar of NASCAR over the radio. At Christmas, he took more delight in hiding the little owl on the Christmas tree than most people took in opening gifts. He’d come home with gifts no one could ever anticipate, from Beatle wigs to tennis racquets. And nobody ever forgot the time he stole a piece of the puzzle that the kids were working on, left for a 3-day trip, then proudly and dramatically completed the puzzle with it on his return, to much familial consternation. Schooling was very important. Church going was important. Non-swearing was important — that would cost you a quarter. And a lecture. When all the kids eventually moved away from home, Roy still loved taking solo drives up onto the parkway, often to enjoy the music and dancing at Mabry Mill. He loved the peace and the beauty of the landscape and the fellowship he found there. When he built bluebird houses for family, he gifted them to sites along the parkway too.

Just as devoted as he was to family, Roy took pride in his homes, first renovating a house in Pilot Mountain, where he settled the family from 1964 –1985, and later, designing and building a house in Mount Airy next door to Mildred’s beloved sister Brenda. In between were a few years apartment-living near kids in Chapel Hill, where Roy & Mildred had starring roles as grandma and grandpa to grandson Cameron, and Roy became a master pound cake baker. That hobby fell to the wayside, sadly, when he and Mildred returned to Mount Airy and he began construction on the house, literally doing everything himself. Until the end, Roy would regale you with how he built every inch of that house. If anyone ever wants to know how the kitchen floor came to be a half inch short and how he solved the problem, just ask one of his kids. They’ll know.

In his later years, with no more homes to build or renovate, Roy became an avid reader, especially in winter time when cold weather kept him inside, a Hamish Macbeth mystery usually at his bedside. He loved how the computer kept him and Mildred in close touch with all the kids, often typing (“pecking”) funny emails himself. As he said, “I don’t have problems with the technology, it’s the spelling.” He loved playing computer games like Solitaire, sitting on the front porch in good weather, and nightly watching of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. During college basketball season, he devoutly followed his Tar Heels, and in summertime he loved watching baseball. His daily walk to Walmart was a highlight until the walk became too much for him.

Roy is survived by his children Sandra and Jim Collins of Pilot Mountain, Tessa and Christopher Perrien of Durham, McCrae and Caroline Smith of Greensboro, David Smith of Asheville, and Linda Albahae of Mount Airy; his grandchildren Justin and Meghan Collins, Joel and Katie Collins, Cameron and Megan Smith, Marin Smith, David Albahae, Alex Perrien, Owen Perrien, Tyler Prufer, Stefan Prufer, and Griffin and Meredith Prufer; his great-grandchildren, Barrett, Sophia and Liam Collins, William and London Smith, and Penelope and Lincoln Wilson; his son-in-law Doug Bryant (Kim); his sister Ruth Easter and his sister-in law and brother-in-law Brenda and Tommy Craft; along with several nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents and wife, Roy was preceded in death by his daughter Mary Annette Bryant; son-in-law Phillip Broughton; granddaughter Catherine Elizabeth Collins; brothers Clinton Smith and Lanford Smith; sisters Marie Stevens, Mary Haynes, Algie Hale, Virginia Rippey, Eunice Johnson, and Alma Helen Smith.

To honor Roy's wishes, there will be no formal visitation or funeral services. The family wishes to thank the staff of Surry Community Health and Rehabilitation Center and Mountain Valley Hospice for their compassionate care.

The family requests that memorials be made to Mountain Valley Hospice, PO Box 325, Dobson, NC 27017.