William Merle Smith, age 73 , passed away peacefully on July 9th 2022 in Birmingham, AL. Merle was born on January 22, 1949 to John Rankin and Lucy Marie Sartain Smith in Booneville, MS. Merle graduated from high school in Iuka, MS. in 1967, where he played football and served as the team captain during his senior season. Merle married his high school sweetheart, Carolyn Ann Hall in 1968 and had two children. They were married forty three years until her death in 2011. Merle served four years in the U.S. Air Force as a Staff Sargent from 1969 to 1973, which included a tour of duty in South Korea. In December 1975, Merle graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1984, he earned an MBA from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
Merle began his engineering career with Alabama Power Company in 1976. He retired in April 2015, as a supervising engineer in the Power Delivery Distribution Department. In October 2014, Merle married Della Kathryn Fancher and the two of them began a quest to travel the world. His bucket list was long, and he loved to plan vacations to America’s National Parks and places like Italy, Alaska, China, the Holy Land and almost all of the countries in Europe.
In his free time, Merle enjoyed gardening at the farm and attending sporting events at Mississippi State University. Merle had a passion for baseball. He attended games at 28 of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums and had plans to attend games in Washington and Baltimore that were cancelled twice due to the Covid pandemic. Attending the College World Series at Omaha, NE in 2021 to see Mississippi State earn its first National Championship in any sport was the culmination of a dream that he wasn’t sure would happen in his lifetime. Merle served as the volunteer coordinator for the Alabama Veterans Memorial Foundation beginning in 2016 and then as a board member from 2018 to his death. Merle was an active member of First Baptist Church Trussville beginning in 1977, where he served in numerous positions of leadership including multiple terms as a Deacon. In 2018, he and Della moved their church membership to Mountain Brook Baptist Church.
Merle was completely devoted to the things he cared about most: his Lord, his family, his country, and attending sporting events at Mississippi State University. Because of his love of country and the University, Merle endowed a scholarship beginning in 2019 for military veterans from Tishomingo County attending Mississippi State. A second scholarship for Tishomingo County High School students who attend Mississippi State will be endowed from his estate.
Merle is preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Della Kathryn Fancher, his two children; John Franklin Smith (Tricia) of Trussville, AL, and Amy Smith Waites (Nate) of Moody, AL; three grandchildren: Patrick and Reagan Smith, Peyton Nicastro, and three step-grandchildren: Micah, Bethany, and Joy Waites. Merle is also survived by his two brothers; Kenneth (Shelby) of Memphis, TN and Jerry (Jane) of Campbellsville, KY and numerous cousins, nephews and nieces.
A Memorial service celebrating Merle’s life will be held at Rideout’s Funeral Home in Trussville, Alabama. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. and the service at 11:00 AM with interment in Jefferson Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alabama Veterans Memorial Foundation or the American Diabetes Association would be greatly appreciated.