Obituary of Henry C. Smith, Jr.

Henry Clay Smith Jr., 83, husband of Eleanor Lee Smith, passed away on November 6, 2021 in Versailles. Henry was born in Lexington on October 5, 1938 to the late Henry Clay Smith and Margaret Byron Smith. Henry was an army veteran of Patton’s Tank Battalion and served two years reaching the rank of Sergeant. After the military Henry joined the Lexington Fire Department with a distinguished career of twenty years and then furthered that career with the Lexington Fayette County Urban Government Fire Department for another twenty plus years. Henry was a Kentucky Coronel and while he worked on the fire department he also owned and operated a ten-acre horse farm in Woodford Co housing and breeding Western Pleasure Quarter Horses. The distinguished stallions “Cutter’s Bid” & “Doc’s Re-Run” were the most notable. Doc’s Re-Run placed second in the World Quarter Horse Congress Western Pleasure Class & his first sire “Hard Scramble” was another World Class Quarter Horse Congress Western Pleasure Class qualifier. After retiring from his career as a fireman he married Eleanor “Sis” Roberts and they began their thirty-five-year marriage on his horse farm and turned it into a home for them both. Henry was proceeded in death by his brothers William Thomas (Bunny) Smith, Donald Lee (Brenda) Smith, sisters Caroline (Gary) Marshall, Nancy (Gearld) Phillips and survived by his sister Inez (Ted) Burgess, and many cousins, nieces and nephews. Visitation will be held at Clark Funeral Home, 241 Rose Hill Ave, Versailles, KY on November 12, 2021 from 11:00 – 1:00 pm with Graveside Service immediately following at Versailles Cemetery. Pallbearers & honorary pallbearers will be Tom Richardson, Gerald Phillips, William T Smith, Jr, Brian Hilton, Rick Deaton, David Roberts, Kenny Roberts, Glynn Roberts. In lieu of flowers the family wishes contributions to be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, a non-profit 501 (c)(3) corporation, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 and to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children Medical Center, 110 Conn Terrace, Lexington, KY 40508.