Anthony “Tony” Franklin Smith

by Lynn McMillen
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Anthony “Tony” Franklin Smith, age 71, departed from this earthly life on January 08, 2025. He was born in Huntsville, Alabama on February 10, 1953. Having been a lifelong resident of Huntsville, Tony developed deep and lasting relationships.

He was a 1971 graduate of S. R. Butler High School and began attending Athens College that same year. He quickly immersed himself into college life joining Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, serving as a manager/trainer for the Athens College Soccer team and later in the same capacity for the Baseball and Basketball teams. Tony was an avid photographer and always had his camera with him at sporting events and other school functions. In addition, he joined the PE Club, the Riders Club, and was a member of the Athenian Newspaper Staff as well as the Columns Yearbook staff.

Tony graduated from Athens College on June 5, 1976, earning a degree in Business Administration. He was awarded the Alumni Spirit award in 1999 and became a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2003. In 2023, he was elected as President of the Alumni Association Board. For those of you who may not have known Tony by name, if you ever bought a bag of popcorn or a soft drink from the Alumni Pepsi trailer at the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention in the last twenty plus years, you would have bought it from Tony or one of the students who worked along-side him. Tony was a generous donor of both his time and money, and ever present at any Alumni event, usually behind the camera taking photos of the people, places and activities.

In addition, Tony, at a young age, developed an interest in gemology. He became a member of the Huntsville Gem and Mineral Society. For many years, including 2024, he served as Activity Chair for their annual Gem, Jewelry and Mineral Show including show publicity. He really enjoyed coordinating this effort and working with all the club members and vendor participants. Family members benefitted from the lovely gifts of jewelry every year that he crafted. Tony prided himself on designing a ring each year that could be raffled off with the proceeds going to benefit the Athens State University Alumni Association.

Tony cherished times when he could go fishing with friends and relatives. He had an enormous collection of fishing gear and so enjoyed the times spent out on the lake. Tony was never one to take much vacation time, but when his second cousin, Michael Locke, would visit from Florida they would spend the days fishing and roaming the countryside taking photographs.

On a professional note, Tony worked many years after graduation for Planning Research Corporation (PRC) and then in 1999 he joined the team at ERC (later Astrion). His responsibilities were wide-ranging in the general facilities management area. Tony was involved in building security, records storage management, compilation of proposal documents and when necessary, delivery of proposals to meet deadlines to name a few. Tony also enjoyed participating in coordination of corporate events and of course taking photographs. Tony would jump in wholeheartedly on every project and would always support coworkers.

As described by Ernie Wu, former CEO of ERC, “One aspect of Tony that may be most memorable was his kindness and ability to know when someone needed his help. More than one person found that out. If you found out you had a flat tire at the end of the day, Tony was there to help you change it, even in the pouring rain. Printer jammed or out of toner with a looming deadline? Tony would fix it or have replacement toner cartridges. At Christmas, he loved giving out tins of cookies to the entire headquarters staff, wheeling a cart loaded with gifts around the office. Perhaps the best way to portray Tony’s impact on the headquarters team was what happened during a corporate retreat where a focus was on the impact of handwritten letters. We had an exercise where everyone wrote a letter of appreciation to someone in the room. Some people had one letter; others had none. Tony had a fistful of letters people wrote to tell him how much he meant to them and how they appreciated him”.

Tony is survived by his sister, Deborah Cohran (Larry); nephew, Davin Cohran; first cousins, Faye Hughes Johns, Danny Hughes, Claude W. (Billy) Franklin Jr. (Kathy), Ronald “Ronnie” Smith Franklin (Marty), Dianne Franklin Trimble (Mike); and numerous other extended family members.

He was preceded in death by his parents, James Franklin Smith and Frances Aleene (Camper) Smith; and nephew, Paul Jamison Cohran.

 

Services will be held at Laughlin Service Funeral Home located at 2320 Bob Wallace Ave, Huntsville, AL 35805 on Thursday, January 16, 2025. Visitation will be 12:30 to 2 p.m. with a Memorial Service in the chapel at 2 p.m. officiated by Dr. Glenn Conner. Interment will follow service at Huntsville Memory Gardens, 6810 University Dr., Huntsville, AL 35806.

Please consider, in lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Tony to Athens State University Alumni Association, 300 N. Beaty St., Athens, AL 35611, or Huntsville Gem and Mineral Club, c/o Theresa Chivers, 108A Corrine, Madison, AL 35758.

 

The family extends their deepest gratitude for the love and support received during this difficult time. Tony was so caring, helpful, generous and loyal. He will be dearly missed, but his memory will forever remain in the hearts of those who knew and loved him.

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