Donald Keith Smith, our father, was the youngest of five children. Their parents were Ernest Franklin Smith and Cornelia Greton Smith (DIXON). They were a typical West Virginia family from that time period. Baptist but not overly religious. Poor. Hard-working. Community-oriented with an extended family. But with few opportunities, he was raring to get out.
Please read more on Donald Keith Smith Growing Up for details about his early life.
Donald K Smith passed on September 11, 2021, at the age of 90 years 9 months 20 days.
Serial Number 13166764
Dad circa 1950.
Dad with an Air Force buddy.
Donald Keith Smith enlisted in the Air Force on February 28, 1948 and was given Serial Number 13166764. He was sent to basic training at San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas in March of 1948.
On June 1, 1948, after Basic Training, he was sent to Scott Field for Electronic school and Repeater school in Bellevue, Peoria, Illinois. It was basically an amplifier for landline phones.
Offutt Air Force Base entrance.
Dad on the front road of the farm outside of Wahoo.
Offutt Air Force Base & Meeting Marie
Offutt Air Force Base runways.
“I arrived in January 1949 for my first posting at Offutt AFB, Sarpy County, Nebraska. It was during a terrible winter.”
“Later that year in Aug of 1949, I was assigned to a detachment at the ammunition factory site in Mead, Saunders County, Nebraska, where all long-range communication equipment was located. Back then SAC headquarters had only been here since August of 1948. I worked on Repeaters, radio, and teletype equipment.”
Teletype equipment Dad worked on.
“I met Marie Cernik at the Mead Ordnance Plant and often went dancing at the Dance Island Ballroom at Wanahoo Park in Wahoo while stationed in Mead Nebraska.”
Wedding Bells
Donald Keith Smith married Marie Magdalene Carol Cernik on June 10, 1950, in Wahoo, Nebraska, when he was 19 years old, and Marie was 19.
Honeymoon
“I was at work when the Air Force called and said I was scheduled for the Korea deployment so ‘where are you?’
I had checked the orders that had been posted and I know Damn well I wasn’t on it to go, but I was going, and I had about 45 minutes to get to town, pack my gear and get back. Your Mother was pregnant with Mark, and I thought for sure she was going to miscarry, but she hung on. We took off for the farm and had Ray drive us to the base and just made it in time, we got on a truck to take us to Offutt Air Force Base and started to pull out when the orderly room clerk came running out yelling and said the shipment had been canceled. That was a relief since it was December of 1950, just after the Chinese had jumped in, so nobody was very eager to go.”
Mead Nebraska Ordnance Factory
Mead Nebraska Ordnance Factory as a Civil Servant Ammunition Inspector
Dad with parents
Start of a LONG Career at IBM
Don working on some IBM equipment. He kind of looks like Jack Nicholson from the “Shining.”
Dad Field Engineering class of 1959.
Cuban Missile Crisis
Donald Keith Smith served in the military on October 14, 1962, in Bellevue, Nebraska, when he was 31 years old.
“One of our biggest ‘Customers’ was SAC HQ in Bellevue Nebraska. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, I was still a working guy at SAC and I and a couple of other Field Engineers were locked in the underground and they were running the War Plan program ready to go if necessary. Of course, we were listening to everything that was happening, and a hell of a cheer went up when the Russians turned back. Really scary particularly since your mother and you guys were at home while I was pretty well protected.”
Cuban Missile Crisis
JFK Assasination
