Greensburg Salem grad’s life was farming
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Robert E. Smith Jr. operated a dairy farm in Salem Township at a time when family-owned farms were common.
As many as 20 dairy farms dotted the region, but now the number is closer to five. The well-known struggles of dairy farmers concerned Smith, who operated Lone Star Dairy for nearly six decades, said his son Tom.
“He talked about that lots of times — about the future of farming. He’d say if you gave a kid a farm (today), he couldn’t make a living doing it. He’d be out of business … because of the conditions today,” he said.
Mr. Smith was a self-employed dairy farmer who worked side-by-side with his wife, Lydee, until she died in 2015.
“His whole life was about farming. … It’s the only thing he did,” Tom Smith said.
Robert E. Smith Jr. of New Alexandria died Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019, at his home. He was 86.
Born in Greensburg on Nov. 11, 1932, he was a son of the late Robert E. Smith Sr. and Amanda (Kennan) Smith. He graduated from Greensburg Salem High School in 1950.
Mr. Smith bought the farm that he named Lone Star Dairy in 1956 and started out with 20 to 30 Holstein cows. “Over the years, it kept getting bigger and bigger, to what it is today,” his son said.
The farm got up to about 160 milking cows by the time he retired and turned the farm over to his son Bill in 2004, Tom Smith said.
Mr. Smith’s life revolved around farming, so much so that he didn’t have many outside interests, his son said.
“One time, I took him up to Cook Forest (State Park), and the whole way up, all he said was, ‘Look at them trees — that could be cut down and used for farmland. … That’s wasted farmland,’ ” he said.
But Mr. Smith lamented the recent downturn in the dairy industry and how it has affected smaller dairy operations.
“He mentioned, ‘If the milk prices don’t go up, it’s going to put a lot of farmers out of business,’ ” Tom Smith said. “He was worried about it even though my brother was running the farm. Dad was still concerned about milk prices and the price of tractors and the price of getting everything fixed.”
Mr. Smith stayed active on the farm even in retirement.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Edith K. “Lydee” Smith.
He is survived by his children, Robert T. Smith and his wife, Donna, William R. Smith and his wife, Carol, Carolyn S. Ryan and Ken L. Smith and his wife, Brenda; 12 grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
A funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Kepple-Graft Funeral Home, 524 N. Main St., Greensburg. Interment will follow in Twin Valley Memorial Park, Delmont.
Stephen Huba is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Stephen at 724-850-1280, shuba@tribweb.com or via Twitter @shuba_trib.