Joseph Smith (24 May 1933 - 26 Dec 2020)

Joseph Albert Smith, (Joe to everyone who knew him) was born in Torquay in 1933. He had two big sisters, Margaret and Kathleen. His father was a fishmonger, working in Mac Fisheries. Dad grew up a Torquay United fan.
Dad met Audrey (mum), who was from Paignton, at a local dance. They married in 1957. A marriage which lasted 57 years.

Dad worked for UBM – United Builders Merchants. Dad progressed through the ranks at UBM, working in Torquay, Exeter and ultimately at Head Office in Southampton. It was the move to head office that brought mum and dad to Southampton, along with their friends, Margaret and Brian. Margaret is here today, and she and Dad have spent a lot of time together since Mum passed away. Losing Dad will also be felt very keenly by Margaret.

Although mum and dad lived in Southampton for in excess of 50 years, they always referred to Devon as home. As children, we would spend two weeks in the summer in Torbay, as well as time at Easter and Christmas. We would spend most of those two weeks on the beach, weather permitting of course. We have fond memories of this time. Dad was expert at building us a boat out of sand, and then digging a trench to the sea so that the boat would be surrounded by water.

As children, Dad would read to us at night. He sometimes got a bit bored with the same old stories, so would cheat and skip a few pages. Unfortunately, Lynda new Rapunzel by heart so he never got away with it.

Dad was a devoted family man, not just for the two of us, but also for his 4 grandchildren, Matthew, Katy, Charlie and James. He also adored his great granddaughter, Eleanor, who he described as ‘perfect’. His grandchildren have many precious memories of him, from being taught to play chess, to how he used to finish mum’s sentences for her. Sometimes he’d guess correctly as well. Latterly, we would all enjoy the comedy that ensued from him refusing to turn on his hearing aid.

Dad adopted Southampton as his second home and adopted The Saints as his second team. I remember dad making me a box to stand on so I could see over the crowd on the terraces of The Dell.
We had to wait until I was grown up for Southampton to finally play Torquay in the FA Cup. Dad wasn’t sure which team to support, so I took the decision for him and bought him a ticket for the away end at Plainmoor so he had to support the Saints.

We also had season tickets together at St Marys, and when he got too old to go, I bought his seat for my son, James, who still sits in it today.

When we found out that Dad had contracted COVID, it was a complete shock for us. He had already had his first vaccination, and we were making plans to spend some time together at Christmas. The speed with which this cruel disease took him should be a lesson to all of us. Whilst we weren’t allowed to visit dad in hospital, we were grateful that we were able to speak to him several times by video call. We both spoke to Dad for a final time on Christmas Day, conversations that are very precious to us.

In one of my last conversations with dad he said he’d see us at the other St Marys. Indeed he was right and after the Mass, we will be taking both Mum and Dad to St Mary’s Extra, where they will be laid to rest, together, as they were in life.

We miss them both.

In loving memory of Joseph Smith who sadly passed away on 26th December 2020