Preston L. Smith ’65 died on August 19, 2018, in Harwich, Massachusetts .
(The following appeared in the Cape Cod Times, August 22, 2018:)
Preston Lee Smith, DDS, age 86, of Harwich, died at his home on August 19, 2018, with his loving family by his side. He is survived by his wife Sheila Whiddon Smith, two daughters Meredith and husband Charles Konner, Stephanie and husband Roger Greenwood, his sister Judith McCracken and husband Robert and their three daughters and families, sister-in- law Audrey Smith and her two daughters and son and their families, grandchildren Dr. William Whiddon Greenwood and fiancée Lisa Rogers, Bennett Preston Greenwood and wife Alexandra, his great-granddaughter Lucy Martha Greenwood, and great nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his daughter Martha Smith, brother Dr. George Richard Smith Jr., parents Dr. George Richard Smith Sr. and Ethel Lee Smith.
Preston was born in Fall River and raised in Somerset. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College in 1954 and a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine in 1958. He graduated with honors and was the recipient of the Mosby Scholarship Award for scholastic excellence, as well as being elected to the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Society of scholastic excellence. He was selected for the US Navy Career Officer Incentive Program during his senior year in dental school. He served in the US Navy from 1957 to 1962. Three of those years were with the Fleet Marine Force attached to the 2nd Battalion 6th Marine Regiment, with which he served overseas in Lebanon. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC, and Brunswick Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine.
Having spent summers in Chatham, where his father had a dental practice, he returned to Cape Cod and practiced general dentistry in Chatham from 1962 to 2002. He was a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry, a member of the Massachusetts Dental Society and chairman of the Cape Cod District as well as on staff at Cape Cod Hospital. He taught during the first year of the Dental Hygiene Program at Cape Cod Community College and was a member of the Central New England Research Group.
He was active in town government and was a member of the Chatham Conservation Commission from 1964 to 1976 and chairman 1973 to 1976 and served on the Chatham Planning Board as well as the Chatham Drug Action Committee. He volunteered with Hope Health Hospice and participated in the Unitarian Universalist paraministry program. He was also a member of Saint Martins Masonic Lodge for sixty-four years in Chatham.
Preston enjoyed yoga, scuba diving, target shooting, boating, and golf. He was a member and runner in the Cape Cod Athletic Club, a member of Eastward Ho! and Cranberry Valley Golf clubs, as well as a member of the Cape Cod Fish and Game Association. He was an avid reader who enjoyed an educated intellectual conversation. He regularly enjoyed his trips to the Cayman Islands with his wife Sheila of sixty-four years. Preston really loved his holiday traditions with his family.
His loving family will miss him.