Clay Smith memorial is Sunday at Tech

By Valerie Kimble

Special to El Defensor Chieftain

   For a man who wasn't sure if he would remain in town for more than a day, Clay T. Smith spent the next 56 years in Socorro carving out a life unlike any other.

   Smith was a husband and father, a geologist, an athlete, a charter member of the Socorro Lions Club, a "Friend" of the Bosque del Apache, and a role model and mentor for generations of New Mexico Tech students, among the closet full of hats he wore.

   He could hike for miles through rugged, Southwestern terrain during geologic field trips, setting the pace for students far younger, and could flip flapjacks with the best of them at Lions Club fund-raisers.

   Blessed with classic good looks, natural athletic ability and a gift for discovery and teaching, Clay T. Smith was bound to touch lives no matter where he went or what he chose to do.

   The New Mexico Tech and Socorro communities are glad he chose them both to complete his life's work.

   Smith died on Nov. 10 of a cerebral hemorrage, several weeks after returning from a Caltech Alumni Fund council meeting. A memorial service to celebrate his life starts at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, at Macey Center.

The arrival

   The story of Clay and Sallie Smith's first day in Socorro is anecdotal. The couple arrived in town on Feb. 12, 1947 at the invitation of E.J. Workman, president of the-then New Mexico School of Mines.

   Workman had been wooed away from the University of New Mexico to rebuild the school in Socorro after an erosion of enrollment during the war years.

   He brought with him unbridled energy and a commitment to fill empty faculty slots with the best and the brighest researchers and instructors.

   Clay T. Smith, who had earned his bachelor of science, master's and doctorate degrees from the prestigious California Institute of Technology, was one of Workman's early choices.

   But when the Smiths arrived at their rented "digs" on old Highway 60, Sallie was shocked to find that they were going to live in one room, shower in the kitchen, and share a bathroom with another family.

   Socorro also had few paved streets or lights, let alone amenities such as garbage pickup and lush lawns.

   Sallie told her husband not to bother meeting with Workman the following morning, "because we're not staying."

   But by the time Clay returned from that meeting, Sallie amended the timeline on leaving: She had already received three invitations for lunch and four for dinner. "We can't leave for a week," she said.

   That was in 1947. The couple who had moved 26 times in seven years had found a home where they might least have expected it.

The geologist

   Smith joined the School of Mines as assistant professor of engineering and acting head of the engineering department. He later headed the geology department and was dean of students and director of alumni relations.

   For some 20 years, Smith headed the New Mexico State Science and Engineering Fair which brought students to the New Mexico Tech campus from all over the state.

   In the early years of Smith's science fair tenure, Sallie and Clay often put students up for the night because of a lack of accommodations in town.

   Smith took a year off from his duties as director of the state science fair to organize and raise funds for the 1983 International Science and Engineering Fair held in Albuquerque.

   He returned as director for several more years before retiring for good, but remained active as a judge and supporter.

   As a classroom professor, Smith was a taskmaster who expected excellence from his students, and got it.

   "Clay Smith was a tough professor, very demanding and unwilling to take mediocrity instead of good geology, but always open to questions and discussion," wrote Michael Bikerman, Class of 1956.

   "His goal was to get students to understand the material and then clearly express what they learned," Bikerman said.

   Bikerman, now a professor emeritus of geology at the University of Pittsburgh, summarized his feelings for Smith:

   "He was the epitome of what a geology professor should be: knowledgeable in his field, able to impart that in a way students can handle; rigorous yet fair in grading; and someone whose love of his professions [geology and teaching] shone through; - and a delightful human being as well."

'Retirement' years

   Smith ostensibly retired from New Mexico Tech on Jan. 1, 1987, and joked that he could use the extra time to improve his golf game.

   But as much as he loved to play golf, the game wasn't enough to satisfy a man who still had lots to do and much to contribute.

   In addition to his membership in the Lions Club (he was the last active charter member), Smith joined the Friends of the Bosque, a volunteer organization that supports the efforts of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge south of San Antonio.

   The Friends are especially busy during the annual Festival of the Cranes. Smith, in fact, was scheduled to lead another geologic tour at this weekend's Festival.

   "I can tell the difference between snow geese and cranes, and can usually recognize Canadian geese, but that's the extent of my knowledge of birds," he said in a 2001 interview.

   However, Smith's descriptions of the geologic formations in the valley were almost poetic, so deep was his interest in the folding and faulting of the earth's crust, and the layer-cake formations that resulted.

   The "Dick Clark of geologists," as he was christened in that 2001 article, once recalled that he spent almost 20 years studying local geology, "and another 20 years to begin to really understand what I didn't know."

The athlete

   No story about Smith would be complete without mention of his athletic ability and his love for sports, an interest that indirectly led to his marriage to Sallie.

   In was a tradition that Caltech boys dated Occidental girls; and since a fellow named Clay Smith always had a car on the weekends, Sallie found herself triple-dating with him and other friends.

   As Sallie told the story, on one such gathering the college students were watching a football game, Caltech versus Pomona College, and Smith had something to say about every play, but was particularly hard on the Caltech quarterback.

   Finally Sallie could stand it no longer.

   "If you're so good, then why aren't you out there playing?" she asked Clay.

   "Madam," he replied, "I would be out there if I could." It turned out that Smith was Caltech's star quarterback and a gifted runner who was being "saved" for a trip to the Drake relays in Des Moines, Iowa the next weekend.

   Clay liked Sallie's spunk and called her up for a date the very next day. They married four years later, and waited another four years to start their family.

   Sons Dean and Stan and their children will join other family and friends at Sunday's memorial service. There, they will listen to reminisces from Smith's former students and colleagues.

   Some of the memories will be from the classroom, football fields, Lions Club meetings and singing with the Presbyterian Church choir.

   At the foundation of all these memories is a simple phrase that once was attributed to Smith: He was more than a teacher, more than an athlete. Clay Taylor Smith was a man known as a generally all-around swell fellow.