Smith David

Article by Kathleen Hay
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December 1, 2009

David Smith spent more than 30 years as a medical laboratory technologist, but music has been a lifelong passion for the city resident. A talented guitarist and string player, he's also a sailor, winemaker and even cheese maker.

David Smith is a Yorkshireman. The youngest son of Arthur and Irene Smith, he has one
older brother, Geoffrey, who resides in Cornwall, England.

Music has been a lifelong pasion for the retired laboratory technician. His mother was a
"fine pianist" and at age seven he began taking violin lessons. David also had a great affinity for jazz guitar which he began playing at age 16 and often played in dance bands.

After high school he was conscripted into the British Army for two years, then spent another 3.5 years in the reserves. During this time he completed studies at Sheffield University, then at Oxford Radcliffe Hospital.

A fellow of both the British and Canadian Institutes of Medical Laboratory Sciences, David and his late first wife, Elsie, immigrated to Canada in late 1956. Each had obtained
employment at a hospital in Pembroke. Shortly afterwards, an opportunity came up for him at the Rockcliffe Air Force Hospital, so the couple moved to Gatineau where David became proficient in French.

In 1960, they moved a final time to Cornwall where he had accepted a position as laboratory chief at the Hotel Dieu Hospital. He was manager of the lab until 1990 and also an assistant administrator for three years. During his time he also received his Canadian citizenship in 1967.

From 1981-91, David and Elsie would spend two weeks each year helping to set up new laboratories in the Dominican Republic with used equipment collected from colleagues in
Ontario hospitals. During this time, his love of music continued to grow. He continued to play in dance bands in Cornwall and also took -up-classical guitar which he plays everyday. As well, he began studying the cello. He was founding member of both the Centennial Band and Cornwall Classical Guitar Trio, and was also a member of the Glen Orchestra, Regency Ensemble threw the Divertimento Symphony Orchestra in Ottawa.

He started sailing when they moved to Cornwall, too, and spent many years racing in a G.P. 14 and then an Albacore, before purchasing his current boat, a Paceship23. He is a past commodore of' the Club who has introduced many people to sailing over the years.

David is an educator who taught medical laboratory technician students at St. Lawrence
College. He continues to lecture for the Encore program on a variety of topics including wine- making (which he has been doing for 50 years), music appreciation and sailing. As if that weren't enough, he learned to make his own cheese, and is very good at crochet.

David and Elsie, who passed away in 2000; had four children: Geoff, Paul, Pam and Stephen. David and Sylvia, his second wife reside in Cornwall.

I. If a sailboat was named after you, what would it be called? It might be called Rope. I
always wear a piece of rope because I've always been conscious of when I'm role-playing. Am I doing or being? People always tease me about it. I imagine in 50 years when I'm gone, people will say, "Remember him, the guy who wore the rope?"

2. What's an odour that reminds you of your childhood? It's vivid. I don't smell it often
   now, but in my mind I can still smell when my mother was drying laundry in front of the
   open fireplace, or when she would bake bread.

3. What was your first impression of Canada We lived on a rural road about two miles from the hospital in Pembroke. We would walk to the hospital, and there was an enormous amount of snow that year in 1956. People would drive by and my wife said, "Do we look different to everyone else?" as they were all looking at us walking. This was not a place for the weakly.

Another thing which had a big impact on me were the very kind people. We arrived a week before Christmas and we got invited to a house for Christmas. We'd say, "Can we do something for you?" They were so kind, and they'd tell us just to keep the ball
rolling.

4. Liona Boyd or Jesse Cook? I don't know Jesse Cook. I've met Liona Boyd. I think probably the greatest classical guitarist is Julian Bream. I saw him at the National Arts Centre. Another great one is John Williams who I saw perform in Montreal. Both
   are right up there. Just incredible.

5. Toughest weather you ever sailed? It was right here. About five years I was out alone. I dropped anchor near the Long Sault Parkway, had lunch. Then I looker over my shoulder and there was a nasty looking cloud. I started heading back and I should have stayed put. A line squall hit me and there was no where to pull in.

I was really in trouble. I got blown into the bay on the US side, threw the anchor out, but it didn't stick. In 15 minutes it was all over, and I wasn't in any danger, but the biggest lesson I learned was to know when not to go sailing. Sailing alone is a very humbling experience; you develop a very deep respect for nature.

6. What's the most unusual wine recipe you've concocted? For a start, I've never bought a
   concentrate. I like to pick fresh berries and start from scratch. I wouldn't call it strange, but Joe Rotheram had a gooseberry bush. It was a load of gooseberries. I could only find one recipe with gooseberries and dried dates. Usually, when I make a wine the first time, it takes three times before I get it the way I want it, but with this one, it was bulls eye on the first shot! I ferment my wines until the alcohol kills the yeast. I've got wild grape
   wine fermenting right now.

7. What would your wife say is your worst habit? I don't know. I really don't know. I can tell you, when you're in your first marriage and younger you can bend and merge.
   I think what Sylvia and I do is respect our differences, and the things we have in common, we play for all it's worth. We can both laugh at the same things, we both eat almost anything, and we're still discovering this .. . we both enjoy things on the spur of the moment. If it's sunshine and we have nothing on the calendar, we just get in the car and go. We keep an overnight bag in it and if we feel like staying over, we do.

There was no No. 8 in this article

9. What did volunteering in the Dominican Republic teach you? It definitely changed my life. It's so subjective it's hard to describe. All I know is I got more from it, then what I gave. When I came back, people would say, "Are you doing any good?" I became focus on finding human values that somehow we've lost along the way.

10. What course have you always wanted to study? I'm very much a generalist. This is why Encore is such a great thing. I just finished a course on the history of submarines. It broadens the mind.