Roger Merrill Smith

November 13, 1939 - June 24, 2021

Roger Merrill Smith was born to Charles and Ruth Smith(Jackson) in New Lexington, Ohio on the 13th of November 1939. He grew up there with his older brother Robert “Bob” Smith and family. He graduated from New Lexington High School in 1957 and immediately left for The Ohio State University, for which he was a member of the band, playing baritone. His time there was short and the following year he enlisted in the U.S. Army, originally to be an air defense technician working on missiles, but soon found himself with the opportunity to attend the United States Military Academy (West Point) where upon graduation in 1963 he became a U.S. Army infantry officer.

In the mid sixties he was sent to become an Army aviator after which he did tours in Southeast Asia as a forward observer and as reconnaissance aircraft pilot. He married Christine Smith (from Dothan, Alabama) in 1965. They later had a son, David. In the early seventies the Army trained him to be a helicopter pilot.

He left the Army in 1978 and went on to be a surveyor/engineer in Ohio. This was the career he really enjoyed, due to the combination of the outdoors and the opportunity to solve the problems it presented him with. He married Paula Riegel (from Columbus, Ohio) in 1987. In the early nineties he once again joined the Army in the form of the Ohio Army National Guard as an engineer. He enjoyed his unit and its members along with the opportunities it presented him with to teach others.

He retired from the OANG in 1999 as a major and from his surveying/engineering career in 2008. His interests were history and reading, as well as music. After a long battle with MS he passed early on the morning of 24 June 2021. He was preceded in passing by his wife of over 30 years Paula, brother Bob, and former wife Christine. He is survived by his stepdaughter Becky McGeary and her extended family, his son David, and sister-in-law Karen Smith and her family.

Roger, in hopes that others might benefit, has donated his remains to research. In lieu of flowers please donate to the national MS society (nationalmssociety.org) or do something kind for a fellow human. Your thoughts and prayers are most appreciated. If you knew him, know that, he probably asked and hoped you were okay in these past few days.

Roger was a member of the marching band in 1957. He played Tenor Horn.