Gary Smith:  

Gary is from Abilene, Texas. Gary's schools include Abilene High School. Gary later attended Richland College, Dallas, TX (Personal Computers) , McMurry University (Math, Physics) . Gary works(ed) at Richland College. More about Gary:"Have always gone by Gary - name is Gerald with a hard G as in Garage attended 8 colleges & universities". 07-26-1934 to 09/30/2016 Gerald "Gary” James Smith passed peacefully after fighting aggressive cancer on September 30, 2016 in Richardson, TX at the age of 82. Gary went into the hospital for back surgery and the tests came back as pancreatic and bone marrow cancer. Two weeks after entering the hospital, Gary passed away in the pre-dawn with his wife holding his hand. The sunrise that morning was magnificent. Gary was an active Toastmaster, a life-time student and a Richland College Adjunct instructor at the time of his death. Gary is survived by his wife, Peggy Smith of Richardson, TX, daughter Debbie Smith of Richardson, TX, son Ray Williams of Waxahachie, TX, sister Sally Smith of Atwater, CA, brother John Smith of Hurst, TX and numerous, cousins, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents Tolbert and Dorothea Smith of Lueders, TX, brother Scott Smith of Abilene, TX, sister-in-law Maryanne Smith of Hurst, TX and nephew Shannon Smith of Hurst, TX. Gary was born on July 26, 1934 in El Dorado, Kansas, to Tolbert and Dorothea Smith. He was the second son of four children - an older brother, a younger sister and a baby brother. The family traveled throughout Kansas and Oklahoma following Tolbert's job in the oil fields, finally settling in Texas, where his parents remained until their deaths. Gary graduated with Honors from Abilene High School in 1952 while working part-time as a typewriter repairman. With written permission from his father, Gary joined the Navy and spent four years in Active Duty as a Communications Technician CT2-M with top secret cryptographic clearance. He maintained spare parts inventory and repaired specialized communications equipment while serving at Skaggs Island Naval Communication Station in California and NSGDet/NSGA in Kami-Seya, Japan. Gary achieved the 2nd Class Petty Officer rank. Gary also spent four years in the Organized Reserves (Weekend Warriors). After his honorable discharge, Gary worked as a Solid State Physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., where he received the Outstanding Performance Award in 1963. While there, Gary wrote programs to produce temperature tables used later to obtain the lowest temperature ever recorded, a Guinness Book of World Records achievement at that time. The team Gary was on is also in Guinness for achieving the strongest synthetic magnetic field, as the cold temperature was required to produce the magnetic fields. Both records were achieved at the same time. Gary used the GI Bill for his initial education. He attended both Abilene Christian College (pre-engineering and chemistry) and Hardin-Simmons University (business law) in the summer of 1958. He graduated from McMurry College in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts in Math and Physics. He was one of the first students to graduate with a physics degree under Dr. Bottom and paved the way for many more students who would come after him. He was also one of the first to be elected into the McMurry chapter of Sigma Pi Sigma, the National Physics Honor Society. Gary received a Tuition Scholarship from Washington University in St. Louis, MO in 1960 and took graduate-level math courses while being a Teaching Assistant. He attended from September 1960 to May 1961. He attended University of Maryland-College Park in Maryland from September 1961 to May 1962, studying graduate-level Physics part-time. In September, 1967, Gary took a graduate-level Physics course at Texas Christian University. Gary graduated from The University of Texas at Dallas in 1979 with a Master of Science degree in Management and Administrative Sciences. He completed all the credit requirements for the PhD in MAS (Operations/Research) but could not complete the degree because the final required course was only offered during the day and he worked full-time. Gary went back to college in 2004, using the Emeritus Plus 50 Program at Richland College and taking classes every semester up to the day he passed. He received five certificates - Help Desk (CIT), Office Assistant (BOSS), Personal Computer User (CIT), Personal Computer Technician (CIT) and Software Application Specialist (BOSS). Gary met Peggy Nelson while living in Alexandria, VA. He married Peggy in 1967 while they visited Abilene, TX and gained a daughter, Debbie. After moving to Richardson, TX, Gary began working for the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies (now known as UT-Dallas) as a Research Scientist who developed the Southwest Regional Magnet Facility, including actually building parts of the interior. As a Systems Analyst, Gary developed programs used to design magnets used in mass-spectrometers in satellites and moon probe command modules, utilized in at least one experiment on each NASA Moon Mission. Gary worked in a variety of supervisor, team leader and managerial positions at the University of Texas Regional Computer Center (formally the North Texas Regional Computer Center) and Computer Associates International Inc. (formally University Computing Co./UCCEL). It was at the UT Health Science Center whe...Expand for more