Smith spent 20-plus years in variety of roles at newspaper.
Joe Smith, a newspaper carrier and manager at the Lake City Reporter for more than two decades, was remembered Tuesday as a versatile employee with an exceptional work ethic and a great attitude.
Smith died Monday night at North Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville after a three-week battle with covid-19 and its complications. He was 67 and a lifelong resident of Lake City.
Visitation will be held Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at Gateway-Forest Lawn Funeral Home, while the funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at the Gateway-Forest Lawn Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow at Wellborn Cemetery.
Smith had worked at the Lake City Reporter for more than 20 years as a newspaper carrier. At one time or another, Smith had delivered each of the newspaper’s more than 30 motor routes during the time when the newspaper was delivered in the predawn hours by carriers.
For many years, he was the full-time truck driver for the Reporter, carrying the daily newspaper from a production facility in Palatka to Lake City each night. He also held the position of Circulation Night Manager, supervising all product distribution, before he retired three years ago. After a short time away, Smith came out of retirement to work part-time on the day shift as the newspaper’s Collections Supervisor, the position he held until his death.
“Our operation works around the clock and Joe Smith was the anchor on the overnight shift for a lot of years,” said Lake City Reporter Publisher Todd Wilson. “If there were problems in the middle of the night, he solved them and I could always count on him.”
Smith’s daughter, Leslie, said her father loved being a part of the team at the paper. In fact, in some ways the Reporter seemed like a family business.
“I think we’ve all been there working at least once, or twice,” Leslie said. “He just liked to be around the people and to work, really. He’s always been a hard worker.”
That hard work didn’t go unnoticed.
Wilson said compliments from the business community about Smith were regular.
“Business owners would tell me they saw Joe repairing a news rack or putting out papers for vendors or moving around town delivering to customers and how he was doing a good job long before the sun came up,” Wilson said. “People in town, from all walks of life, respected Joe and so did his co-workers. That speaks to his character. He was a salt-of-the-earth type of guy, always eager to help in any way he could, always worked hard with a great attitude. We had a lot of laughs along the way. I will miss him terribly.”
Prior to working at the Reporter, Smith was a heavy equipment operator, working for Mathis Welding and Plow Company and Red Bud Enterprises. He prided himself on being able to operate draglines, track hoes and bulldozers with precision.
“He used to drive a crane,” Leslie Smith said, adding he also did sandblasting.
Smith is survived by his two daughters, Connie (Michael) Tanico and Leslie Smith; as well as his brother, James (Darlene) Smith; his companion, Patricia Teale; and 13 grandchildren.
A father of three, Smith was preceded in death by his son, Joseph A. “Buba” Smith Jr.