1943 – 2015
FAIRFAX, Va. — Barry W. Smith, “Bear,” son of the late Albert and E. Elizabeth Smith of Dixfield, died on Easter Sunday, April 5, in Fairfax, Va.
Barry was born in Rumford and raised in Dixfield, where he founded the Chicken Coop Clubhouse, played marbles in the street and was always first to arrive at the hockey rink. He attended and graduated with honors from Dixfield High School in 1961 and completed a postgraduate year at Kimball Union Academy in 1962, where he was an avid football, hockey and baseball player. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1966, where he lettered in hockey and football. While at Bowdoin, he enjoyed life as a Beta Theta Pi brother and a crooner of “Peggy Sue” and “Bony Moronie.”
After graduating from Bowdoin, he taught math and coached hockey at Brunswick High School for 11 years.
In 1977, he left teaching and started a home construction and land development company until he was disabled by a head injury in 1992.
In the 1990s, Barry became an avid rock hound, blasting for tourmaline in the mountains of western Maine. Although he never made the “big find,” he enjoyed teaching others about his passion. Barry had few loves in life that were more important than rocks, and those were peanut butter and Jim Beam. During that time, he lived on Crescent Lake in Raymond and served as social chairman for all who visited.
Later in life, he moved to Sterling, Va., to be closer to his son and grandchildren and became a full-time hockey chauffeur, mad scientist of canning and experimental gardener. He was a great storyteller, well-known for tales of night hunting, imbibed snowball fights and former teammates’ exploits on and off the field and ice. He will be missed.
Surviving are his children Sarah Crowley of Topsham, Nathan Smith of Potomac Falls, Va., Hannah Cawley of Parkville, Md., Sarah Gochenour of Plantation, Fla., and Brooke Stowell of Bangor; and 12 grandchildren.
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