Carl H. Smith in the 1927 Canaras Born: August 27, 1907
Died: August 27, 1992
Married: Ruth C. Smith
Carl H. Smith was a teacher, a firefighter, and a member of the Saranac Lake Zoning Board from 1951 to 1992.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 28, 1992
Carl Smith remembered by friends
By MATTHEW RUSSELL Enterprise Staff Writer SARANAC LAKE — Longtime Saranac Lake fireman and zoning board member Carl H. Smith, 85, of 18 Cedar Street, died Thursday Aug. 27, 1992, at the Adirondack Medical Center following a long illness. It was his birthday.
He was born Aug. 27, 1907, in Saranac Lake, the son of William Henry and Zoa (Laurent) Smith. He is survived by his wife Ruth C. Smith, whom he married June 29, 1932. There are no other survivors.
Smith was remembered today by his friends and associates who knew him as a teacher, firefighter and community planner.
He was honored in May by the village of Saranac Lake on his retirement from the village Zoning Board of Appeals, of which he was an original member. He served from 1951 to 1992 and was chairman for 31 years.
He taught shop in Watertown 1929 to 1938 and then in Saranac Lake from 1938 until his retirement in 1972.
Carl, called "chief" by his students, founded a fire squad of student volunteers at the high school, then located at Petrova Avenue.
He initiated the practice of fire drills in which students on the fire squad would check each room for signs of fire and help lay out hoses in the event of a real fire.
Smith joined the village fire department in 1926 and remained an active fireman until recently.
"Carl was a very dedicated fireman," said Donald Duso, a past fire department chief who knew Smith for over 35 years.
"Everyone liked him. Carl always liked to do things right, and he was willing to express his view of how things should go to keep the department running straight and level," Duso added.
Dick Burman was a student in Smith's shop class who later got to know his former teacher as a friend. Burman also noted Smith's dedication to the fire department. Smith was also a volunteer starter at the Mount Van Hoevenburg Bobsled run from the 1930s to 1971.
Smith received the village's Citizen of the Year award from the Chamber of Commerce in 1986. At the time of his death he was the Franklin County Deputy Fire Coordinator.
Calling hours will be 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Fortune-Keough funeral home. Services will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at St. Luke's Church, with the Rev. Fredrick Dennis, pastor, officiating. Interment will follow in Pine Ridge Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, August 22, 1953
Fire Chief and Mrs. Carl Smith, of 18 Cedar St., and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Barbata, of 38 Bloomingdale Avenue, are expected home today from Binghamton and Amsterdam, where they attended the State Firemen's Convention.
