Sylvester Owen Smith, III

Sylvester Owen Smith III, born January 9, 1944, grew up in Fayetteville with his mom and dad and, eventually, his brother Joel and sister Nancy. At the start of a new school year, his mom made sure he knew to tell the teacher that his name was Owen. However, he soon brought home representatives from among his many boyhood pals. Once they heard Mrs. Smith say, “Skipper, you boys can come get your snacks!”—well, from then on, and until he left this world on March 27, “Skipper” he was.

Skipper loved to read all his life, and that love came in handy at a young age. He graduated with high marks from Guilford College. While there, he still found time to play football for a year, contributing to the team’s perfect record (0-11). He then entered the UNC School of Dentistry, finishing in 1971. His first job out of school was on Broadfoot Avenue in the office of Dr. Clarence Olive and Dr. Robert Mohn. It was a wonderful marriage of talents and personalities for two decades. However, it was not Skipper’s first, longest, or best marriage.

When Irma Bowman was stood up for a date during her college years, the stander-upper suggested to Skipper that he take Irma out instead. It was a fine suggestion and, in the end, one of God’s great blessings for so many. Skipper and Irma married in 1968. In the waning years of their time together, when Skipper so loved the company of his son and grandsons, he told Bowman, “No matter how good the times are between you and me, I would always choose to be with your mother if I had to make that choice.” Only an earthly death parted them—and that, only for a little while.

Skipper’s ministry on this earth was to his patients. They provided his family with a fine living, but he provided for them as a shepherd does for his sheep. He loved them. When the Care Clinic opened, he willingly volunteered his hours. When he opened his own practice on Ft. Bragg Road in 1990, he told the Care Clinic staff to send those in need directly to his office. Skipper retired from dentistry in 2022. He could have afforded to do so sooner, but his abiding love for his patients kept the work fresh and exciting for him. Only the failings of his own body stopped him—never a lack of desire in his heart.

This sweet, beautiful man was also a vicious practical joker. Like the time he went to a friend’s house for dinner and buried pieces of the entrée in houseplants so the family dog would dig them out later. No one involved has forgotten his oh-so-famous penchant for PG-rated Secret Santa gifts. Irma shook her head when these gags were discovered. She was also fully complicit.

Skipper loved most things that happened outdoors. He was an avid fly fisherman. He dragged around thousands of Clarkspoons in search of Spanish mackerel. He loved bearing left off Highway 53 at the Cedar Creek fire tower and heading to the farm in Ammon, where he often met up with co-owner John Tally. All children were welcome there to enjoy the ducks, deer, bears, and turkeys. Irma and Skipper were bona fide fox hunters in the English tradition. He also joined the Cape Fear River cowboy rides—still in his English saddle—though it once cost him a fractured collarbone. Masonboro Inlet was the canvas on which Irma and he (and the Boykins) painted many memories while reading books and watching people walk by.

There is so much material for a lifetime’s résumé—his long and loving marriage, his success in raising three productive children (who also had, and are about to have, productive children of their own), his loving relationship with scores of patients, and his cadre of intimate friends. Still, perhaps the thing that mattered most to Skipper was that, in his mind, he became the kind of man his mother always prayed he would be—especially after he found such intimacy with God at Snyder Baptist Church, and especially in the Lighthouse Sunday School Class.

Skipper was predeceased by his father, Sylvester Owen Smith Jr.; his mother, Lois Dansby Smith; his sister, Napier Smith Hill; and an infant brother.

He is survived by his wife, Irma Bowman Smith; his Boykins, Crunch and Spook; his daughter, Nicolle Smith Isla (Shawn), and grandchildren Christian, Julie, and Allison McGowan, and Blake Isla; his son, Woodland Bowman Smith (Melissa), and grandsons Owen and Alex; his daughter, Caroline (Coco) Napier Smith, and fiancé Nelson Traynham, with Smith Edward Traynham expected 5/1; his brother, Joel Alexander Smith (Paula); and his brother-in-law, Bart Hill.

At the time of Skipper’s death, his son was fishing for tarpon, one daughter was nursing her very own patients, and his other daughter was preparing a nursery for the arrival of a child of her own. Therefore, with his life robustly lived and fully in order, in the early hours of his final Thursday morning, Skipper laid his book on his chest, smiled one last time at his wife sleeping by his side, and departed for an even more intimate and inconceivably glorious communion with God.

A memorial service will be held at Snyder Baptist Church on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 1 PM. The family will receive friends after the service in the gathering hall.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to The Care Clinic in Fayetteville, NC, or Snyder Memorial Baptist Church.

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