In Memory of A.C. "Bub" Smith

A.C. "Bub" Smith believed everyone should have a chance to get a college education. He also believed students should be willing to work hard in return for what they received. When he learned about Opportunity Plan, Inc. and founder Buff Morris' philosophy for helping students, it was a match made in heaven.

"I can't tell you the number of times Bub would call me and say 'well I've got another student that needs some help' but then he would say, 'be sure and check their hands and make sure they've got some callouses on 'em,'" Cathryn Wright, OPI president and daughter of Buff Morris, said. "Bub and my dad had the same philosophy. That's why Bub was such a great personal supporter of OPI and how he helped us garner so much support through the years."

Smith joined the OPI Executive Committee in 1975, soon after he and his sister, Claire, created the O. Dale and Clara Currie Smith Loan Division honoring their parents, but his family had been supporting the Daisy Martin Currie Loan Fund for a decade prior to that. 

OPI’s founding President Harvey Allen knew Bub’s family and encouraged Mr. Morris to involve Bub with OPI. 

“I’ll never forget coming to the office early one morning and finding Bub on the porch pacing back and forth,” Cathryn said. “He was ready to establish the fund in honor of his parents and he was ready to do it right then!” 

Bub went on to establish the A.C. “Bub” Smith Loan Division and the Ellen Dorsey Thompson Division, a loan fund in memory of his mother-in-law. The Smith family funds have turned over multiple times, assisting 49 students with student loans. Every borrowing from the funds has paid the money back. In addition to the funds he and his family were responsible for creating, countless other OPI loan and scholarship funds are the direct result of Bub’s relationships.

“Bub was our biggest ambassador in Amarillo,” Wright said. “The first time I met (former U.S. Ambassador) Teel Bivins, he said, ‘oh, I know you. Bub Smith has told me all about you.’ I think Bub’s friends probably got tired of hearing about OPI from him.”

An avid outdoorsman, Bub was inducted into the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame last February as only the second outdoorsman/conservationist in the Hall of Fame’s history. 

“Bub was very gracious in accepting the honor, but after thanking the Hall of Fame and his family and friends, he spent the rest of his remarks about OPI and what an important program it is,” OPI Executive Director M. Keith Brown recounted. “That’s the kind of man he was, always looking for a chance to talk about OPI. We’ve lost a true friend.” 

Bub passed away Oct. 6 with memorial services on Oct. 10 at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Amarillo. Bub is survived by his wife Nancy Thompson Smith; his three children, Ellen Smith Bivins and husband Mark, Allen Currie Smith, Jr. and wife Jussen, and Dale Alexander Smith and wife Caroline; and seven grandchildren as well as his sister Sinclair Smith Siragusa and husband John and his sister-in-law Linda Thompson Spangler and husband Richard.