Dr Vasco Smith Died he was 89

Dr. Vasco Smith died he was 89. Smith, who led in the fight for civil rights for more than 50 years was a member of the Shelby County Commission for more than 20 years.

Dr. Smith was married to Civil Rights icon, Maxine Smith, and was himself, a leader in the movement. Dr. Smith was also a member of the board of the Memphis NAACP.

Dr. Smith was a graduate of LeMoyne-Owen College and Meharry School of Dentistry.

Dr. Smith and his wife, Maxine, executive secretary of the Memphis branch of the NAACP, celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary 10 days ago.

Their partnership had a lasting effect on the march toward civil rights in Memphis.

“She and Vasco should have been called the freedom fighters,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), who served with Dr. Smith on the commission. “They would stand up for principle and stand up on issues. They were strong moral voices in the community.”

Dr. Smith graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1937, then from LeMoyne College in 1941. He received his dental degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville in 1945.

He began his public life in 1973 when he won a special election for an at-large seat on the Shelby County Quorum Court, forerunner of the commission. He served on that body until retiring from politics in 1994.

During his time there, Dr. Smith and others were instrumental in founding the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. Dr. Smith remembered his mother, who worked at the old John Gaston Hospital, telling him stories about that facility’s inadequacies.

“I always said if I could at some time do something about it, I would. On the County Commission, I saw an opportunity,” he told The Commercial Appeal in 1994.

But it was also his efforts at promoting civil rights and rooting out racism that left a lasting mark on the city.

Teaming with the likes of Jesse Turner, A. W. Willis, H. T. Lockard, Russell Sugarmon, Hooks and others, the Smiths pushed for voter registration, filed lawsuits, raised money and helped elect blacks to office. They also took part in demonstrations and sit-ins and were arrested more than once.

“I know that I would not be where I am today as a lawyer or in political circles had it not been for Vasco Smith,” said Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, a neighbor of the Smiths, who announced Dr. Smith’s death at Monday’s commission meeting.

“Dr. Vasco Smith just expired a few minutes ago,” Wharton told the commission. “He served on this body from 1973 to 1994. I’ve been with Ms. Smith in the last hour. And under the circumstances she’s well.”

Commissioners then observed a moment of silence.

Later, Wharton said, “I could best describe him as a valiant soldier in the army for justice (and) equality who suffered many combat injuries and never received a Purple Heart for it.”

Dr. Smith was also a music aficionado with a particular love for jazz. At the Smith home, a large portion of one wall is devoted to his expansive collection, dominated by jazz but including music that covered most of the nearly nine decades of his life. The albums were catalogued in the kind of minute detail characteristic of someone passionate about music.

Wharton would often pass along obituaries from The New York Times when an influential musician would pass away, but Dr. Smith’s knowledge would run deeper than the newspaper’s account.

“You name it, he would give you a dissertation on it,” Wharton said.

While many in Memphis and around the country mourned Dr. Smith’s passing Monday, perhaps his old college classmate and fellow civil-rights warrior Lockard best summed up the loss.

“He was a good fellow,” Lockard said.

In an interview with The Commercial Appeal in January, Maxine Smith talked about how she and Vasco’s efforts built on even greater sacrifices made by those who came before them.

She talked about Vasco’s “sacrifices,” how his family from Arkansas “didn’t even have a 6th-grade education” and how “they moved every time the rent man came.”

“We hit the ground running after Vasco got out of the service,” she said. “I never had the good sense to get away and I don’t have a single regret.

“We all got here on somebody’s shoulders and we can go as far back in history as we want and far enough we don’t even remember some of those days. One good thing stacks on top of another. I sometimes wonder why God is so good to Vasco and I.”