Photo courtesy of Ken Smith.
Carlton Smith and his wife, Martha, dance at a family wedding a few years ago.
Ken Smith said his dad, Carlton Smith, was one of the best men he’s ever known, often going out of his way to help others.
Carlton Smith was always good to people, his son said. Once, when they were in Hartselle, his dad went the long way while driving just to buy gas from somebody in particular. When his son asked why, Smith responded by saying he knew the man was having trouble getting his business going and he wanted to help him.
“Dad just had that ability to try and care for people,” Ken Smith said.
Both of his sons, his wife and others who knew him described Smith, the third superintendent of Vestavia Hills City Schools from 1986-1997, as a man of integrity.
Carlton Smith died June 17 at the age of 83.
Even when he was serving as superintendent in Vestavia, Smith made time to practice sports with his other son, Bill.
“He spent days and days in the preseason with me, practicing baseball with me,” Bill Smith said.
Smith spent time coaching at Union Springs and Erwin high schools before coming to Vestavia Hills in 1986 to become the third superintendent in the system’s history.
“He wanted to ensure everyone got a good education,” Ken Smith said.
Ken Smith said his father had a “tremendous impact” on education around the state.
Bill Hasty, who served on the Vestavia Hills Board of Education in the mid-1990s, described Carlton Smith as “one of the finest men I ever met.”
Hasty said he enjoyed “five good years” of working with Smith and worked with him to help establish the Vestavia Hills City Schools Foundation.
Through their commitment to the city’s schools, Hasty said he and Smith became best friends and walked together every day, solving the world’s problems, one walk at a time.
“Unfortunately, no one listened to us,” Hasty said.
Hasty said Smith always made sure the schools had enough money, working to create six months of reserves for the system. He also made sure to keep the board informed, Hasty said.
During his career, the school system opened Vestavia Hills Elementary Central and welcomed students from the Liberty Park community following its annexation in 1992. Under Smith’s leadership, the school system also greatly expanded its classroom resources and technology, according to a statement from the school system.
Smith was also a family man who left an impact on his wife and two sons.
Smith’s wife of 64 years, Martha Smith, said she met her future husband at a movie theater during the summer before her senior year of high school.
The pair hit it off, began dating and after graduating high school, they were married.
“He was very outgoing, very outspoken,” Martha Smith said.
One of his mentors advised him to pursue a job in administration while he was coaching, Martha Smith said. “He loved working with kids,” she said.
It wasn’t just kids he impacted though.
Bill Smith said his father had more integrity than anyone he’s ever met, along with “incredible honesty,” and a unique ability to treat everyone, no matter who they were, with respect.
“Honesty is embedded in me because of him,” he said.
In addition to being a man of high character, Carlton Smith was a great storyteller, Bill Smith said.
“He could tell a story unlike anyone I’ve ever known,” he said.
His stories weren’t always short, but they always had a point, Bill Smith added. And no matter where the Smith family traveled, someone always knew their dad, he said.
Martha Smith said she and her husband enjoyed going to Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Homewood and spent good time together after he retired traveling all over the world, to places such as Alaska, the Bahamas, Russia, Australia and Finland.
Those times were precious because they were able to spend more time together than they did when he was working, she said.
“I will remember how friendly he was, how wonderful he was, all of the sweet things he did,” she said.
He would always tell her he loved her before they went to sleep for the night, she said.
Hasty said he truly misses Carlton.
“You don’t have many good friends like that in life,” Hasty said. “The city’s going to miss him, the school’s going to miss him, and I’m going to miss him.”
Smith leaves a legacy for many to follow, from his friends to his former students and to his family.
“I feel truly blessed to have known him and really blessed to be his son,” Bill Smith said. “I hope to be a tenth of the man he was someday.”
