Longtime businessman Bill Smith Sr. passed away Tuesday afternoon.

Smith, 82, was born on a cotton farm and graduated from Fairview High in 1947. By 1954 he had opened Smith & Waldrop Motor Sales with Jimmy Waldrop. By 1956, Smith and Waldrop picked up Pontiac and became the nation’s youngest new car dealers.

From that organization, the company grew into Alabama’s top Pontiac, Buick GMC dealership, said his son, Bill Smith Jr.

The first location of Smith’s GMC dealership was at the present site of Merchants Bank along U.S. Highway 31 in Cullman. The current location of Bill Smith GMC is at the intersection of Alabama Highway 157 and Highway 31.

“I remember hearing that he started working in the late ‘40s at Bob Sapp’s Clothing and he would allow dad to put a few cars out front to sell,” Smith Jr. said. “He simply had a great life. He was raised without electricity and rode in mule-drawn wagon during the Great Depression. The family didn’t have an automobile until much later.”

Smith Jr. said his father’s greatest joy was meeting and getting to know others.

“He really loved people and wanted to sit down with anyone he met over a hamburger and a milkshake and get to know them. He made a lot of friends through the years.”

At an early age, Smith’s family home was destroyed by a tornado, which threw him across a field. His mom found him unharmed playing behind a well.

“He really loved people and automobiles and collected antique cars. He always said he lived his dream. He had a very good life,” Smith Jr. said.

* David Palmer may be contacted at 256-734-2131, ext. 213, or dpalmer@cullmantimes.com.