Melvin Rogers Smith was born in Fort Thomas, Arizona on November 17, 1922 at 12:30 a.m. It was raining and sleeting and very cold but his father had to ride on horseback to the grocery store in town where the only telephone was in order to call the doctor who lived in another town. Melvin was named after the newly ordained apostle Melvin J. Ballard and his middle name was his mother's maiden name, later, and for the rest of his life, he went by the nickname "Bud". He was the third child born to Lorenzo Wickliffe Smith and Blanche Rogers Smith. His siblings are: Gerald Wickliffe, Myreel, Glenn Samuel, Norman Davis and Inez (she died when only a month old).
When he was only a few years old his family moved to Tucson, AZ so that his father could take classes on "dairying and chickens" at the University of Arizona. Melvin remembers his father working nights on the railroad and then later running routes for the Sunset Dairy near Tucson. While in Tucson, he had a hernia operation and then also had his tonsils and adenoids removed at the same time.
In October of 1927 Melvin's family was privileged to be able to go to Mesa to the temple dedication. He remembers sleeping on the lawn of the temple with his family and in the middle of the night someone stepped on him as there were a lot of other people sleeping there too. On December 7, 1930 Melvin was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by his father in Globe, AZ.
He attended 1st grade at Laguna Elementary School in Tucson from September 1928 until February 1929 when his family moved to Globe, AZ. There he went to Hill Street School for a couple of years and then East Globe School for at least one year and then 4th, 5th and 6th grades back at Hill Street School. He played clarinet in junior high and high school and graduated from Globe High School in May 1941.
While growing up in Globe, Melvin worked on his father's dairy, the New Modern Dairy, before and after school and at the age of 16 he started driving the milk trucks and running milk routes. After graduating from high school, he attended Gila Jr. College in Thatcher, AZ for one year but was then needed to return to work at the dairy for his father since there was a shortage of workers due to the World War II. His father got him exempted form the war for a while because he needed his help.
In December 1943 Melvin joined the Army Air Corp. He was trained as a tail gunner at first but then they weren't needed anymore so he was then trained as infantry. On April 6, 1945, while on furlough, he married his sweetheart, Lorraine Brown, in the Mesa Arizona LDS temple. A short time later he was on a troop ship headed for the Philippines. In April 1946 he was discharged from the service and went home to Globe to begin a family with Lorraine.
Four of their children were born while they lived in Globe: David Melvin, Donald Loren, Kenneth Wayne and Janice Lynn. Then because of health problems of one of the children, they moved to Mesa, AZ where Gary Paul was born.
While living in Mesa, Melvin worked for Serv-Us Bakery and then as a printer for Arizona Hardware Co. and later for First Interstate Bank. He retired in 1987 and then he and Lorraine moved to Strawberry, AZ where he worked part-time for Basha's Grocery Store.
He was very active in the LDS church and served in the Bishopric, Stake Missionary, Genealogy Chairman, Scouting and many more callings.
He cared for his wife, who had suffered a debilitating stroke, for the last five years of her life until she passed away on July 7, 2007 after 62 years of marriage.
Melvin passed away on December 20, 2016 in Strawberry, Arizona and is buried next to his sweetheart in Thatcher, Arizona.

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Melvin Rogers Smith