Robert Smith

Robert Donald "Don" smith, Jr., 73. Of Lubbock, Texas, passed away Thursday, January 2, 2025, at home. A funeral service will take place at 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 16, 2025, at Marshall and Marshall Funeral Directors, Hillsboro, with a burial to follow at Brandon Cemetery. A visitation will be held before the service at Marshall and Marshall, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 16, 2025.

Robert Donald "Don" Smith Jr was born November 17, 1951, in Corsicana, Texas to Robert and Margaret Joe Smith. He grew up in Milford and at the Ferguson home place in Brandon with his parents and sister, Phyllis. He attended school in Milford and Bynum graduated from Bynum High School. After graduation from Sam Houston University in 1974. he worked for USDA, Continental Grain and other companies that moved him around the country inspecting food and grain facilities. He lived in Beaumont, Texas, Wichita, Kansas, Guymon, Oklahoma, and Stockton, California. Wherever he went, he made friends and usually joined the community softball league. In the early 90s, he came back to Hill County to help his aging parents. After their passing, he accepted a job in Olton, Texas. While working there for the Ridley family, he volunteered for the Olton EMS and before long his career path completely changed. He became a certified EMT and then, at the age of fifty and training with fellow students half his age, he became a paramedic. For more than 20 years he worked at agencies in the Olton and Lubbock area finally retiring in 2024 from Lubbock Aid Ambulance. His EMS family described him as an "ideal Paramedic" because of his dependability, bedside manner and patient advocacy. He was also known for the essential Whataburger stop and for his wit and humor. He appreciated a good practical joke, and friends will remember how they would often receive a random text message with a pun, joke or humorous observation.

He is survived by his sister, Phyllis Bruton of Morgan Mill, Texas and niece, Carrie Griffith of San Angelo, Texas. As well as a huge EMS family.