JAMES SMITH

PADUCAH, Ky. -- James P. Smith, 91, of Paducah, formerly of Cairo, Ill., and Memphis, Tenn., died Thursday, Jan. 15, 1998, at Lourdes Hospital in Paducah.

He was born Feb. 20, 1906, in Wesson, Miss., son of Howard and Donie Dampier Smith.

He retired from the U.S. Army, where he earned the rank of colonel. He served in World War II and in the Corps of Engineers after the war. He earned the Legion of Merit badge, the Bronze Star with oak cluster and three battle stars. He was a graduate of the University of Memphis and the University of Mississippi School of Law.

He was a retired attorney and served in the Tennessee Legislature from 1947-1948 representing the Memphis/Shelby County area. He was president of Halliday-Smith Inc., an Anheuser-Busch distributor in Cairo. He was a member of the Church of the Redeemer in Cairo, the American Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association and an honorary member of the Memphis and Shelby County Bar Association. He belonged to the Cairo Rotary Club, the Alexander-Pulaski Sportsman Club, the Cairo Elks Club, Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the Tennessee Club in Memphis.

Survivors include his wife, Jane Halliday Smith of the home; two daughters, Beverly Pugh of Paducah and Sally Jameson of El Paso, Texas; four grandchildren; a step-grandchild; and four great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents and sister.

Visitation will be private. Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. today at Barkett Funeral Home in Cairo, with the Rev. George M. Jaeger officiating. Burial with graveside rites will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Green Lawns Memorial Gardens in Villa Ridge.