ROYAL C. SMITH was born June 28, 1939, to Reva Prince Smith and Arthur Cliff Smith, in Enid, Oklahoma.
The Smiths divorced in 1942, and in 1955 when Reva married Harold L. Edwards of Crescent, OK., she and Royal moved to Crescent with him.
Royal had attended Enid High School, but graduated from Crescent High, where he was on the football team. In 1957 he married Kveta Royce Yenzer of Crescent. He attended the University of Colorado, and received a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from the University of Wyoming. He spent 21 years in the United States Air Force, and the couple lived in or visited many countries during that time. He was a navigator on C-141 and C-5 planes, and served in Vietnam. After retiring from the Air Force as a Major, they settled in Guthrie, and he became Kveta’s caregiver until her death in 2012. He was active in veterans’ organizations and the church.
He is survived by one sister, Shirley Meech of Los Angeles, and two brothers, Barrie Smith of Fairway, Kansas, and James Gauldin of Oklahoma City.
Services were held Monday, October 20, 2014 at the First Christian Church, Guthrie, OK.