Douglas Smith Jnr ( 18th September 1911 - 27th March 1996 ) was the eldest child of Douglas Smith Snr. ( 11th October 1888 - 13th April 1977 ) and Laura Smith ( 14th June 1890 - 29th August 1942 ) and was born in Gibson Street, Harpurhey, Manchester.
His childhood years & education were spent in Manchester and Jersey, Channel Islands ( where several family members remain to this day ) : these places stayed special to him throughout his life.
On leaving school at 14, he became apprenticed to a butcher and eventually became a Master Butcher and Grocer with shops at various times in Manchester, Stretford and finally Urmston.
He volunteered for service in the Second World War but was rejected as medically unfit due to an enlarged heart.
Following the ending of his first marriage, he met Mavis at a dance in August 1957 whilst both were on holiday in Jersey and 6 weeks after meeting they were married. They had 1 child Douglas Ian Smith
Throughout his life, Douglas Smith was very athletic and active : In his
youth he regularly took part in sprint and middle distance races and boxing,
upto county level and was a strong swimmer ( especially amidst the strong tides
around Green Island and the Samares coast in Jersey ). During his working life
he regularly worked from 05:30 to 22:00 in the shop, delivering goods,
restocking supplies and cooking meats in his own cook/bakehouse.
Of his 55 years of trading, he spent 27 years at his grocers/butchers/general goods store at Gloucester Road, Urmston before retiring in 1984.
In retirement, he daily spent many hours walking and exercising the dogs as well as gardening until in 1987-8 he needed a pacemaker fitted to to regulate his heart beat which was erratic and slow leading to fainting and falls.
His health remained good ( every fortnight he went to the meat markets for supplies for neighbouring pensioners, walked and drove many miles a week and took regular holidays in the Algarve, Portugal ) until 15th February 1996, when he suffered a severe stroke due to a haemorrage. He made slow but steady progress from then and was due to be transferred to a specialist physiotherapy hospital on Monday 25th March 1996 but caught a 'bug' that several patients on the ward had suffered. Just after Midnight on 26th-27th March 1996, the nursing staff noticed something was wrong and called for help. At 00:20 they rang us, by the time we got to the hospital he was gone.
I loved & love this my father who was and is also my truest friend.
[Mavis Smith][D.I.Smith][A.C.Smith][Urmston]
Douglas I.
Smith, dis@cix.compulink.co.uk