[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6084]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO TOM B. SMITH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARION BERRY

                              of arkansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 25, 1999

  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a good friend 
and great Arkansan who passed from this world earlier this year. Thomas 
Benton Smith, or Tom B. as his friends called him, was born in Wynne, 
Arkansas where he spent his life working to improve the town and Cross 
County.
  Tom B. served as county attorney and deputy prosecuting attorney in 
Cross County and was municipal judge for Cherry Valley. He was also 
city attorney for Hickory Ridge and had served as a special Arkansas 
Supreme Court associate justice. A faithful Democrat, Tom B. also spent 
many, many hours working as the chairman of the Cross County Democratic 
Central Committee, as state Democratic Committee Treasurer and was a 
delegate to the Democratic National Convention as well as Democratic 
state conventions. He was also Chairman of the Cross County Election 
Commission.
  Serving his community and working to make Wynne a better place to 
live was something that Tom B. strived to do. He was a member of the 
Wynne Chamber of Commerce and the past president of Wynne Fumble Club 
and a past board member of the Arkansas Community Foundation. He was 
also the founding president of the board of Little Sheep Day Care at 
Wynne Presbyterian Church.
  Tom B. meant a lot to me, my family and the people of Arkansas and he 
will be greatly missed. His perpetual good humor, loyalty to his 
friends and family and the things he cared about made him not only much 
beloved but made his community a better place to live, work and raise a 
family. Tom B. has honored all of us with his friendship and service 
and I am proud to have called him my friend.

                          ____________________