Obituary
view guestbook | sign guestbook

Sterling I. Smith

Date of Death: August 29, 2025

Date of Birth: January 22, 1933

Biography:

PHIPPSBURG,ME (formerly Palmyra, ME and Westwood, MA)

Sterling I. Smith of Phippsburg, ME passed on 8/29/2025.  He was born during the depression on the Smith family farm in Palmyra, ME and was predeceased by his wife Georgia (Spaite) Smith, siblings Charles W. Smith, Marguerite A. Koehler, Stephan A. Smith, Lauriston G. Smith, Hadley E Smith and James W. Smith.  He is survived by Harvey J. Smith, Gary W. Smith and Laurie Smith, Charline R. Smith and David Hills.  Additionally, he has 5 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.

He was educated in the Adams one room schoolhouse in Palmyra, ME. attended Newport high school and MCI and then attended Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, MA.  There he met his future wife and they started a family with three children Harvey J., Gary W. and Charline R. While in the Army he and Georgia traveled to Oklahoma and then settled in Westwood Massachusetts.

Living there he was an active member of the First Baptist Church of Westwood serving as a trustee, financial advisor and property manager.  He started his career with Raytheon working in purchasing.  He left Raytheon to join the Harvard University purchasing group in 1962.  His employment at Harvard became a career as he worked there for 37 years.  During his time there, he grew his role from Purchasing Agent to Manager of Central Services, Risk/Insurance Management ultimately attaining a corporate appointment as Officer of Administration.

Upon retirement he and Georgia moved to Wiscasset Maine and then to Phippsburg Maine.  During his retirement he pursued his hobby of restoring and showing several antique Farmall tractors, models that were on the family farm during his youth.  He enjoyed the work of renovating their new home in Phippsburg following a master plan that he developed for the property, building an additional garage to house his antique collection and executing an extensive landscape plan.  In his later years he became the driving force in the creation of the Smith Legacy Historical archives, collecting tools, furniture, photos and memorabilia of the family history. 

Donations may be made in his memory to the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society.

Celebration of Life Services will be held at the Smith-Goodwin cemetery located near the family homestead in Palmyra, Maine, at a time to be announced.