Minnesota State Society   

Wallace Dean Smith, Sr.

Born: 5 July 1933 in Elmore Minnesota

Education: Elementary and High Schools in Elmore. B.A. (Anthropology) (1958) University of Minnesota. B.S. (Business) (1973) University of Minnesota. M.S. (Management of Public Service)(1981) De Paul University, Chicago, IL.

Military Service: Enlisted-1954-1956; U.S.Army. Commissioned Officer. 1961-1988; United States Navy (Active Duty-1961-1970; Ready Reserve-1971-1988). Retired; 1988.

Federal Civil Service: 1975-1991. General Service Administration; Department of the Navy; Defense Logistics Agency. Retired; 1991.

Current Activities: Volunteer Docent and member of the School Outreach Teams at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. (12 years). Genealogist and editor of the Association of Descendants of John and Grace Smith Newsletter. Registrar, Virginia Society, Sons of the American Revolutionary War.

Minnesota Memories: Playing the Sousaphone in the U of M Football Marching Band (1951-1954 and 1956-1958) in Memorial Stadium at the University on fall Saturday afternoons. I have a brick from that venerable stadium where four Gopher football teams were voted as national champions in 1936, 1940, 1941 and 1960.

Other Minnesota Connections: One Great Grandfather homesteaded a 160 acre farm in Faribault County in the 1860s. He also served in Company C of the 11th Minnesota Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. Another Great Grandfather served in the First Minnesota Regiment of Heavy Artillery during that conflict. My father was the youngest of seventeen children, all born in Minnesota and I have many cousins still living there as well as a brother and sister in Mankato.

E-mail: wally@mnstatesociety.org