Businessman.
Born at Guelph, Ontario on 15 March 1892, son of John Smith and Agnes Mary Kirkland, he was educated at Guelph and later attended the University of Manitoba. He joined the Winnipeg Piano Company in 1912 and became its Vice-President in 1918 when the firm was organized into a joint stock company, holding the position until his death. During the First World War, he served as an officer with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service.
On 18 February 1922, he married Marjorie St. Clair Carruthers (1901-1978, daughter of George Andrew Carruthers) at Winnipeg and they had three children: Shirley Carruthers Smith (1925-2009, wife of Maxwell MacRae), Pamela K. Smith (wife of Alan B. Pemberton), and William Alexander “Jock” Smith (c1931-1979). During the Second World War, he was a civil flight instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Force at Virden. He was a member of the St. Charles Country Club, Manitoba Club, St. Charles Polo Club, Winnipeg Jockey Club, Winnipeg Rotary Club, Winnipeg Rowing Club, Royal Lake of the Woods Yacht Club, and Wartime Pilots Association.
He died suddenly at Winnipeg on 1 April 1952 and was buried in the St. John’s Cathedral Cemetery.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Smith House (111 Park Boulevard, Winnipeg)
Ontario birth registration, Ancestry.
Marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“W. A. Smith dies in city,” Winnipeg Tribune, 2 April 1952, page 12.
Obituary [Marjorie St. Clair Smith], Winnipeg Free Press, 15 June 1978, page 169.
Obituary [William Alexander Smith], Winnipeg Free Press, 22 May 1979, page 46.
Obituary [Janet Louise Carruthers], Winnipeg Free Press, 30 April 1996, page 28.
Obituary [Shirley Carruthers MacRae], Winnipeg Free Press, 22 January 2009.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 11 October 2024
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