Bert Smith, Younger
Years
I was born in St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City in 1947. My father, Carl L. Smith Jr. was
a Vocational Agriculture Instructor, teaching veterans at the time at Oklahoma A & M in Stillwater. He was one of ten
children of a farm family from Apache and was a valedictorian at Cameron College in Lawton. He had recently
returned from serving as a Lieutenant JG with the U. S. Navy on a destroyer tender in the Pacific during World War II.
My mother, whose maiden name was Irene Steincamp, was from Riply. She had completed four years of
college in elementary education at O A M C but her degree completion was interrupted by the war.
The first formal education I received
was at an elementary education Pre-K learning laboratory at the college in Stillwater at about age three. I
feel that this experience enhanced my learning skills significantly. Our country would be well served by
strong Pre-K education efforts today.
I attended school in Canute, Oklahoma
from grade 2 through 12 and graduated from high school in 1965. I served as president of my senior class.
I was active in little league baseball, Junior 4-H, Future Farmers of America, and high school athletics, including
football, basketball, baseball, and track. I participated in all three levels of Scouting, from age eight to 18, receiving
my God and Country and Eagle Scout Awards shortly before I graduated from high school. I have infinite
respect for those who earn the merit badges required to be an Eagle Scout before having a driver’s license.
I believe after school programs change lives. Access to these programs should not be limited.
I enrolled in the
College of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University in 1965. I lived at the Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity
House my entire four years in Stillwater, serving as the third ranking officer of the house during my sophomore year and the
second officer, Vice President, my junior year. I feel that I learned a great deal of leadership as I pursued
my degree in Agricultural Economics. I also enrolled in Army ROTC at OSU the first year that class was
optional, and not a mandatory class as it had been for many years. In May of 1969, I received a Commission
as a U S Army Infantry Officer at graduation. I was accepted into graduate school and stayed a few months,
but in August of 1971, I was flying helicopters in Vietnam, something I really wanted to do… at the time.
