" He should have been an entertainer." son-in-law Floyd Richards remarked of Tom's remarkable gift for story telling. Floyd referred specifically to an incident when Tom visited his son Dick in the Long Beach, California Veterans Hospital. Although hospital protocol suggested "Don't sit on the beds." Tom attracted such a throng of enthralled listeners that the only place for him was in the center of the bed. It was standing room only as he related with humor one incident after another about cowboy experiences in Southern Utah, working on the filming of movies and horse racing experiences. "He could talk to anyone," commented nephew Kenneth Goulding. It didn't matter if it was the President of the United States or the Governor, they were all just as common to him as anyone else. "I'd have to turn away and smile, but if it was a story that tickled him he'd laugh with you the whole while he was telling it."

Tom had an optimistic outlook and a sense of humor that could temper a difficult situation. In 1948-49 Tom served as a guide for Jack Breed's expedition for the National Geographic Society to explore " The last frontier in Utah, one of the least known wilderness areas in the US". (National Geographic September 1949). The group of fifteen adventurers set out with three jeeps, two trucks, 35 horses and headquarters in a specially equipped Pontiac Station Wagon which carried the flags of National Geographic Society and the Explorers Club of New York. One of their first goals was to reach the promontory where in 1776 Spanish Explorers led by Escalante and Dominguez cut steps in the canyon walls to reach and cross the Colorado River. Only by foot, horseback or river boat had anyone reached this site before. As their vehicles advanced over the trackless terrain, "crashing over ledges, fighting back over stream banks as high as a house and driving through hub deep sand"-- they "struggled to hold the car (Jeep) from slipping into some gorge". Tom roared "The farther you go the better the road gets". Of course it didn't but he sensed a little humor could help relieve the stress. They achieved their goal and the "Jeep became the first vehicle in history so far as records show, to reach the Crossing of the Fathers". The return trip was still to be accomplished. "Everyone shuddered at the thought of those sand hills and dunes. How are we going to get back up that dune?" Jack Breed had asked Tom after a particularly difficult descent. "Why them four-wheeled critters will climb a greased pole." Tom's humorous prediction proved correct, perhaps partly because of the confidence it inspired contrary to another expedition members gloomy comment of "One stall and we're sunk."

Thomas Washington Smith was born April 15, 1888 in Layton, Arizona to James Edward Smith and Elizabeth Jennett Smithson. The family moved to Utah and Tom spent part of his childhood in the pioneer settlement of Pahreah, Kane County. They moved to Henrieville. There is no record of these early years but it seems reasonable to assume that he helped his mother and father with the chores required for survival at that time and also developed a life-long love of horses.

Tom wrote of his call to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and of some of his experiences. "The Lord sees fit to call you on a mission, signed Joseph F. Smith." This was October or November 1910. The news came as "--the surprise of all my life. I carried the letter or call and went straight to my dear old Bishop W. P. Willis. It appeared to me that he didn't approve of it all. Perhaps in the way it came about. His having nothing at all to say or do in this transaction. I at this time only a Deacon,--". On the sixth day of January 1911, I said farewell to my ole' associates and friends and kissed my loved ones all good-bye. Without any authority at all to enter the Salt Lake Temple for my Endowments and not even had been ordained an Elder, yet I had faith that the Lord would provide the way and the Spirit of that Mission was burning within my bosom and nothing else would do only go. However about night on the same day I arrived in Panguitch and explained to the Presidency of the Panguitch Stake, such as my Bishop had neglected and refused to do. So there and then I was ordained to the Office of an Elder by the Presidency of the Panguitch Stake and President James Houston wrote me a recommend."

Tom went by train to Chattanooga, Tenn. and was assigned by President Charles A. Callis to the "Florida Conference". He spent twenty-six months in Florida and South Georgia. "During said time I indeed had many wonderful experiences. Yes marvelous ones, as such I wouldn't exchange for the wealth of Henry Ford, yet I wouldn't give a five cent piece to have it over again." During his Mission Tom was stricken with Typhoid Fever. "I do know of my own positive knowledge that I was caught away quickly and my spirit was carried away to the Spirit World. I saw both Hell and Paradise. They are both of the same land. This spirit world is here upon this earth or very close by. I recognized my father. He told me many wonderful things. I returned back to the old log cabin from which I had left my earthly body. Lo and behold my body and spirit had reunited, and I was just as normal as I am now." I opened my eyes and looked. I saw Elder Richman Standing before a mirror tying his tie. I asked where are you going, he turned and looked with sparkling eyes and said I was just going to start to Oxford, six miles from Wildwood, to send a telegram to President Charles A. Callis to prepare to send my body home by express." Tom goes on to tell of another experience when they were teaching in an area where many were "bitter" against the missionaries. "They gathered together a mob and carried me to where my execution was to take place and it looked very much like the end of my career, but Israel's God softened the hearts of the mobcrares and I escaped death." A favorite story of the family was of how ingenuity provided shelter from the elements. Tom and his companion had been walking all day in the rain and were soaked to the skin. They knocked on the door of a little home on a country road and were denied a place to sleep. A little girl was sitting on a bridge over a small stream and as the Missionaries passed back over the bridge Tom gave her a little nudge with his foot. She tumbled into the stream and Tom heroically rescued her. There was much commotion and the Missionaries were rewarded with a place to stay for the night and probably supper as well.

One time Tom used his cowboying expertise to win over a crowd of antagonistic menfolk. He and his companion were tracking and it just so happened that the town was having a sort of rodeo celebration. They did not want to hear Tom and his companion so Tom challenged them. He would ride the meanest horse they had and if it threw him, he would just go on to the next town. But if he succeeded in riding it, they would all come to the meeting planned for that night. Of course the crowd was sure that this young missionary in his nice suit and carrying his scriptures would never be able to ride the wild horse. The underestimated Tom! He took off his jacket and hat, and mounted the horse and rode it out. He won the respect of the crowd. They had a good attendance at the meeting that night.

Thomas Washington Smith married Minnie Helen Clark on June 26, 1913. They took Minnie's mother with them and went by team and wagon to Marysvale and then took the train to Salt lake City, where they were married in the Temple. They stayed in the Grand Hotel. Upon their return to Henrieville, they moved in with Tom's mother who was a widow.

After some time they moved to a house that they bought from Jack Pollock. In 1923 they bought a home from Ern and Ida Fyfe. They paid about $1,000.00 for the house and furniture. Just before World War II they moved into the new home which they had built down the street from the Post Office. Tom had a conversation one day with the builder. He asked him if he would come by when he finished the other job he was working on, he said that Minnie wanted to make some changes. He "didn't think she wanted to move the house, just make some changes". Their home was among the first in Henrieville to have a radio. It was battery powered and the whole town would come to listen. Also their washing machine, powered by a gasoline motor and when electricity came to town in 1940, theirs was the first electric stove. Tom liked to keep up to date. He did not complete twelve years of schooling but he had a myriad of interests and educated himself by continual study.

Tom "always had a good horse", Ken Goulding said. He would take some grain out to the corral and those horses would come to him. No one else was allowed to use his saddle, he wanted it to stay nice. He enjoyed participating in and attending race meets in various towns in Southern Utah.

Tom was in the sheep business for a time. The sheep required constant attention, so in the Summer the whole family would go out to the valley and stay until Summer was over. The trip took half a day. They took the milk cow and calf and the chickens tied in a box to the side of the wagon. Tom and Minnie and the little girls slept in the tent, the boys slept in or under the wagon. After several years with the sheep Tom sold them and went into the cattle business. During the depression he worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps and helped to build the road and stone walls and bridge in Zion National Park.

Tom wasn't much for guns and he didn't hunt. He could ride any horse and rope, Bunk Moore said that Tom was the best cowboy he knew. (Tom said the same thing about Bunk). Tom didn't fear anyone, but the family remembers he was "scared to death of mice". He would be up on a chair and Minnie would have to kill it. Once he came in from the Grainery and told Minnie there was a mouse out there. "Did you kill it?", she asked. "No, I fainted", he replied.

Tom loved little children but he often was in trouble with their mothers. He would tell the kids that they could go down below with him when he went out with the cattle. They would go home to get a bottle of fruit and their mothers would have to explain that he didn't really mean it. Tom died too early, May 19, 1953. He was just 64 years old. He was a unique individual and the world is poorer with his loss.