Forrest Bedford Smith, Jr., 87 of Lakeland, Florida, died May 5, 2022.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held 10 a.m. July 9, 2022 at First United Methodist Church, 122 Public Square N., Shelbyville, Rev. Jim Beaty officiating.
He was born January 29, 1935 in Limestone County, Alabama and was the son of the late Forrest B. Smith Sr. and Winnie Clardy Smith.
He graduated from Shelbyville Central High School in 1951 when he was 16 years old and later became a 1956 graduate of Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Other education includes receiving a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Nashville School of Law and passing the Tennessee Bar Exam in 1975 while working full time with a family.
Forrest married the love of his life, Clara Jean Mason, on August 11, 1957.
They met while attending Tennessee Tech University and lived in and around Nashville for many years. After retirement he and Jean moved to Naples, Florida, and finally Lakeland.
Forrest and Jean traveled the world extensively and especially loved Australia and more recently their European cruise.
Forrest enjoyed community involvement including being a member of the
Shelbyville Benevolent Masonic Lodge #122 F&AM and the York Rite of Masonry in Murfreesboro. He also was always willing to give education and career advice and help to anyone who requested his expertise.
He started his career at Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) in 1956 as a test and data analysis engineer with ARO, Inc. He left the center to serve as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. In 1960 he went to work for the Aero Propulsion Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. In 1964 he returned to AEDC as an Air Force project engineer.
While at AEDC he was responsible for developing the center’s strategic planning process that has been widely accepted as setting a national standard for government organizations. That process was recognized with the Federal Quality Institute 1993 National Quality Improvement Prototype Award. He was also instrumental in the establishment of a Strategic Management Group which defined the AEDC strategic plan.
He helped develop concepts involving the combination of modeling and simulation and flight test data to meet weapon system development requirements. He served as deputy program manager and director of engineering for the Large Rocket Test Facility J-6 Program. Mr. Smith helped steer the 1992 study by the National Research Council on “Future Aerospace Ground Test Requirements for AEDC.” He was instrumental in starting the joint NASA-DoD Hypersonic Test Investment Plan study. These two studies led to a National Facilities Study and several important national facility initiatives.
He formed the first international affairs office at AEDC responsible for overseeing the many Data Exchange Agreements and developing international partnerships for the center’s facilities. Forrest retired from AEDC in 1993 and in 2000 was honored as an Arnold Engineering Development Complex Fellow for his outstanding service throughout the years.
Forrest is survived by his wife of almost 65 years, Clara Jean Mason Smith of Lakeland, daughter, Tania Smith Shurtleff (Winston) of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee; brothers, Harold (Pat) Smith of Bell Buckle, and Gene (Shirley-deceased) Smith of Smyrna; brother-in-law, William R. (Linda) Mason of Sparta; nieces, Rhonda (Floyd) Crook of Smyrna, Kimberly List of Murfreesboro, Lynn McCullough of Lebanon, Jennifer (Lucas)) Murphy of Cookeville; nephews, Brian (Pam) Smith of Pensacola, Florida. and Chris (Leann) Smith of Bell Buckle.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to First United Methodist Church of Shelbyville or a charity of your choice.
