Obituary of Frederick D. Smith

Frederick D. Smith

April, 20, 2024 at age 95. Frederick Douglas Smith was born on March 17, 1929 to the late Frederick and Kathleen Smith on Grandview Farm in Macedon NY. Fred is predeceased by his beloved wife Parania, his son Douglas, brothers John "Jack" D. (Betty) Smith and Daniel (Roberta) Smith, and great-grandson William MacDonald.

Survived by his children Glenn (Amanda) Smith and Cyndi (Perrie) Wall, stepchildren Vera Miller, Mark (Tracy) Miller and Tania (Ken) Beghini, 12 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren, 2 great-great grandchildren.

Fred was born with high-frequency hearing loss and attended the Rochester School for the Deaf for 3.5 years as a child, becoming an expert in lip-reading. Many people had no idea he was clinically deaf. Fred returned to public school in Macedon from age 10 through high school graduation.

He and his brothers Jack and Danny, known in the community as "The Smith Boys", all grew up with a love for sports. Fred played baseball, fastpitch softball and basketball at Macedon High School.

After high school Fred received a Bachelor's Degree in chemistry at Blackburn College in Carlinville, IL. After graduating he worked at Eastman Kodak in Rochester for 29 years in electron microscopy. Later in life Fred pursued his love for literature and writing, and received a Master's Degree in English from SUNY Brockport.

Fred was an avid runner, spending many years going to the gym and jogging on the track regularly. He umpired high school fast- and slow pitch softball. Fred has a brick at Frontier Field that states "Frederick D. Smith, Let's Play Ball!" Fred was also a devout Chicago Cubs fan.

In his leisure time he played bridge weekly with friends. He enjoyed reading, crossword puzzles, telling favorite personal stories of adventure, and watching his favorite comedy sitcoms on TV. He embraced the culture and language of his wife Parania's homeland of Ukraine.

Fred will be greatly missed, because he was greatly loved.

Fred's Divine Liturgy will be held Thursday, April 25th at 10:00am St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Church. Interment Holy Sepulchre. In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation to the Rochester School for the Deaf or St. Josaphat's Church.