Gorman Curtis Smith

West Point, 1951

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Andy Remson on September 12, 1998:

The following obituary appeared in the 29 August 1998 Washington Post newspaper sent by Andy Remson and in the program for Gorman's funeral on 3 September 1998 at Fort Myer, sent by Bob Yerks. Gorman Curtis Smith, a retired Major General in the Army Reserve and former assistant administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, died August 25, 1998 at the Charlotte Hall Veteran's Home where he had spent the last four years with Alzheimer's disease. MG Smith was born in Durant, Oklahoma and was a 1951 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. He served in the 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War and participated in the battle for Pork Chop Hill. His courage and strong sense of duty were reflected in his combat awards of the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars for Valor, two Purple Heart Medals, and the Combat Infantryman Badge. After the war, he received Masters and Doctoral degrees from Columbia University and also graduated from the Army Command and Staff College where he received another masters degree. His assignments included tours at the Pentagon at Department of Defense level, as an economics professor at West Point, and as a Battalion Commander in the 82nd Airborne Division. He left active duty as a Colonel in 1969 and joined the Army Reserve from which he retired in 1988 as a Major General. After leaving Army active duty, MG Smith became a director and vice president of the Information Concepts research concern in Washington before joining the government in 1972 as executive assistant to the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. He left the government as FEA assistant administrator in 1977 to join Transco Energy Company in Houston as vice president. He later became president of the company's coal gas subsidary and then president of its synfuels and methanol companies. He returned to Washington in 1985 as executive director of US Energy Corporation, from which he retired in 1988. Survivors include his wife of 27 years, Mary James Weathersbee; two children from his first marriage to Catherine Sirmeyer; Glen A. Smith of Houston and Sharon Polifrone of Chicago; a step-son, H.B. Weathersbee, Jr. of Sumter, SC; and four step-grandchildren. Two brothers, Shofner Smith of Oklahoma City and Major General Foster Lee Smith of Alexandria also survive him. "Now we who loved you, leave you, Soldier among Soldiers, buried with honor." Honorary Pallbearers: John Byers, John H. Craigie, George H. Gardes, John J. Leffler, Earl L. Keesling, Edward C. Meyer, Howard M. Steele, Robert G. Yerks.

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