Charles Ray Smith, 91, of Fayetteville, Tennessee, passed away Oct. 24, 2024.
He was born to Robert Austin Smith and Pauline (Vanzant) Smith May 15, 1933, in Fayetteville, Tennessee.
He grew up in Fayetteville and graduated from Central High School. He received his BA in physics in 1953 from Vanderbilt University where he was Phi Beta Kappa, followed by a Masters of Science degree in physics, also from Vanderbilt, in 1956. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Universität Erlangen in Germany and subsequently worked as an aeronautical research engineer and physicist at Redstone Arsenal.
He married Peggy Jane Mullins on Oct. 11, 1958 in Fayetteville, Tennessee.
Ray and Peggy moved to Colorado in 1960, where he worked for the National Bureau of Standards while studying for his PhD in physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The couple had two sons, Mark and Paul, during this time.
Upon completing his doctorate at CU, he joined the University of Wyoming as a professor of theoretical physics in 1964, and the family lived happily in Laramie, Wyoming for the next 21 years. Highly regarded for his teaching and as a graduate advisor, he was also a productive research scientist. Among his other accomplishments, he was perhaps best-known for his contributions to Maximum-Entropy and Bayesian methods research.
In 1985, with both sons having left home to embark on their own educational, career, and personal pathways, Ray and Peggy moved back to Tennessee to be closer to family.
Ray also pursued further professional and research interests as a senior scientist in theoretical and applied physics and mathematics at Redstone Arsenal until his retirement in 2000. Among other areas of responsibility, he helped lead one of the teams that contributed to developing the guidance system for the Patriot missile system.
Over his career, he edited several books, authored numerous original peer-reviewed publications, and wrote or contributed to a wide range of additional papers, monographs, and technical reports in physics. During his academic tenure, he and his family enjoyed year-long sabbaticals at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, where he was a visiting research fellow, and later at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee where he was a visiting scientist in the Plasma Theory Group. He was also a distinguished visiting professor in electrical engineering at the University of Mississippi.
An avid outdoorsman, during the family’s years in Wyoming, it was not uncommon for the four of them to spend afternoons, weekends, and holidays in the mountains and backcountry, hiking, canoeing, camping, & cross-country skiing.
Ray and Peggy’s first grandchild was born in 1989, and Ray soon found he loved being a grandfather, which also provided him a new opportunity to teach curious young minds about science, technology, and mathematics. On one occasion he provided a masterclass in patient and creative explanation when his youngest grandson asked him to explain the hypotenuse of a right triangle. He was clearly delighted to be able to draw upon his expertise and skill as an educator to explore the concept in terms that a 10-year-old could understand.
Survivors include son, Dr Mark Austin Smith Flair (Diahn Malcolm Flair); son, Paul Smith (Cary Berry-Smith) of Douglas, Wyoming; grandsons, Gentry and Clifford Smith of Douglas, Wyoming, cousin Tim Smith of Fayetteville, and numerous nieces, nephews, and extended family members.
He was preceded in death by his father, Robert Austin Smith; mother Pauline (Vanzant) Smith; wife, Peggy Jane Smith; and grandsons, Austin Dale Smith and Kyle Robert Smith.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to the Humane Society of Lincoln County (https://HumaneSocietyLC.com) would be appreciated.
Private services will be held at Rose Hill Cemetery. Higgins Funeral Home is honored to be serving the family of Charles Ray Smith.
