Julius Smoak:
CLASS OF 1966
Woodlawn High SchoolClass of 1966
Shreveport, LA
Marshall County High SchoolClass of 1966
Guntersville, AL
Lee High SchoolClass of 1966
Huntsville, AL
Westlawn Middle SchoolClass of 1963
Huntsville, AL
Fairfield Elementary SchoolClass of 1960
Shreveport, LA
Julius's Story
Chip is from Shreveport, Louisiana. His schools include Woodlawn High School, Linwood Middle School, Lee High School, Westlawn Middle School, Marshall County High School, Fairfield Elementary School. Chip's wife Linda worked at Trans Union and attended Linwood Middle School and Woodlawn High School.
More about Chip:"I'm happily married. I have three beautiful daughters and six grandchildren. Together my wife and I have six children, eleven grandchildren and one great granddaughter. I love my family with all my heart."
We moved to Shreveport in January of 1955. I was entered into Fairfield Elementary School which was the next block over from our house. I had a short way to go to school. I hopped over the back fence and walked through our neighbors yard and was at school.
In the course of time and progressing through the grades I moved from Fairfield to Linwood Junior High School. I attended Linwood until January of 1963 when we moved to Huntsville, Alabama. After about six weeks we moved to Guntersville, Alabama, about 30 miles from Huntsville on the Tennessee River where it turns from going south and goes north, back into Tennessee. I finished the ninth grade as a high school freshman. That summer I worked at the Jaycees Beach, a park on the Tennessee River that offered kiddy rides, including a small train for the kids, in addition to a swimming area. Guntersville was a quaint small town and that summer was lots of fun. At the end of the first six weeks of my sophomore high school year we moved back to Huntsville where I attended Robert E. Lee High School through my junior year.
My younger brother and I were sent back to Shreveport just before the start of my senior year. We stayed with an aunt and uncle for a little while. Then my sister, who was finishing college at Centenary, took over. We were back in our old house. My father was still working in Huntsville. Mother stayed with him. In January of 1966 they finished packing up the house to come to Shreveport. Dad had taken a job in New Orleans. They did not make it to Shreveport. A snow storm hit before they got out of town, even though it was sunny when they left the house in Huntsville. The snow storm forced them to go south instead of west. They altered their plans and went to New Orleans. We did not start to worry until a day after they were to get to Shreveport. We were used to them arriving late to places. They finally called two days after they were supposed to arrive in Shreveport to let us know what had happened.
I guess we got there too late for me to be entered on the roster as a member of the football team, but I did practice with them. After graduating in 1966 I entered Louisiana Tech the following fall. I started in engineering with thoughts of following in my fatherâs footsteps, but it was not my cup of tea. I switched to accounting. This change of curriculum delayed my graduation a year and a half until March 2, 1972.
I married Kim McKay from Alexandri...Expand for more
a in January of 1971 and she had twin girls later that year, the first twins born in Ruston in quite a few years. She had a son 18 months later in November of 1972. After graduation we moved to New Orleans and I went to work for a Burger King franchisee for 14 months. We parted ways in December of 1973. Six months later a small family-owned (not my family) corporation hired me as an accountant. I caught their books for the business and two affiliates, which were 3 months behind, up to date and found and corrected a longstanding accounting error. After seven weeks I left them to take a position with the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA), a federal government lending agency.
Kim and I divorced in 1982. I married Sue Ash from Ironton, Ohio, in January of 1983.
I spent 30 years with SBA but had a 18 month break in service in 1986 and 1987 when I worked for 14 months for a bank in Hammond, Louisiana, as a loan workout officer resolving problem loans. Four months after leaving the bank I returned to work at SBA back in New Orleans.
In July of 1990 I transferred to SBA headquarters in Washington to work on developing lending policy and procedures and to assure compliance with them by field offices and participating lenders. We moved first to Maryland and later to West Virginia.
In April of 2000 I transferred to the Dallas/Fort Worth District Office to supervise the loan division of that office. We moved first to Jefferson, Texas, and later to Tyler, Texas.
I retired from SBA September 30, 2005. Sue and I divorced November 30, 2005. I married Linda Slay, whom I first met at Linwood, in January of 2006. Linda graduated from Woodlawn as one of the class of 1967. We set up residence in Jefferson, where we still live.
I have been trying to go back to work in my field ever since retiring from SBA. I have been a security officer and customer service representative at a call center on a temporary basis to augment my retirement income and social security to be able to do more than just get by.
As I have gotten older I find myself becoming a bolder Christian, although I donât attend church as much as I probably should.
I also became very interested and somewhat active in politics beginning during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Linda tells me that my one opinion and one vote donât get the attention of any of the politicians. My reply is invariably that mine in conjunction with a few thousand others of the same opinion do get the attention of the politicians.
I am still trying to find work in my field but realize that the competition is fierce due to the extremely high number of layoffs in the field due to bank mergers and the economy. I remain hopeful and persistent in my efforts, with the strong belief that I have something to offer and to contribute.
Between Linda and I we have six children, 10 grandchildren and one great granddaughter. They are spread out geographically so seldom see them but enjoy them as much as we can.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos