To our new heroes, the Pine Knot Fire Department that continues to protect this community and risk their lives for all. I would like you to know that you now have a part of our heart and we will always appreciate and pray for you and your families from our family.

     Elbert Odell Smith was a very special person that will continue to live on in the hearts and thoughts of many people that loved and knew him.

     I grew up from the earliest memories of Elbert that we were to protect and love him. I always thought that was because he had special needs, and we were always concerned that outsiders could take advantage of him. My father was especially protective of Elbert, but also with that brotherly love was there. I grew up to know that Elbert looked at the world as a grown man, but with the loving eyes of a child. He saw no evil, hatred or mistrust. Things that we take for granted.

     I would eventually come to realize that Elbert was a special needs person, not because of a handicap, but because he taught us to love, live, trust and enjoy life! I believe that as God prepared Elbert for this world he was to enter, he explained that he had created millions of “supposed normal” babies that squandered the possibilities their lives could have produced. Those normal children learned to mistrust, lie, cheat, steal, drink, do drugs, hurt others or many other vices that we fall prey to while becoming distracted with God’s plan. With Elbert, he decided to give him a disadvantage from the very beginning and let’s see what he can accomplish. Elbert was to join this world with a great and loving family. A family that would love and try to protect him from all evils of the world through our jaded eyes.

     Elbert was born to Alcie Stephens Smith and John Walker Smith on March 31, 1945 in Pine Knot, McCreary Co, Ky. Elbert took the challenge God gave him and ran with it as fast as he could. He never knew a stranger, his trust was great. I remember seeing him wave to anyone that drove by. He rode his bike and would go up to anyone to talk. Shy would not be a word that I would use to describe him. He would visit the Pine Knot Fire Department down from his home all the time on the other side of the Pine Knot Cemetery. He could always be found there taking care of the graves of family members that had already passed on. He lived a full life, had many adventures and had countless people that considered him a friend. Each person he met, he took part of their heart! Many people can remember Elbert telling him that he sure liked their pens, he collected many. He loved his model cars, which he probably had the world’s largest collection. He wouldn’t hesitate to show you what he had, and he called most people he met “Buddy”.

     I always thought about the life he could have led if things had been different, would he have married and had children of his own, what would he have done for a living. His living was to teach us to love and see life through a child’s eyes. The joy he had from the simplest things!

     I started learning to protect and love him, and then learned he was indeed “the backbone of the family that kept us together”. He was the one that loved and protected us. We feel this from the pain his death has caused each and every one of us!

     Our healing has started with his funeral. Elbert was made an Honorary Fire Chief in 2001. He was honored by the Pine Knot Fire Department who gave him a Fireman’s Funeral. From being honored as an Honorary Fire Chief, to the badge they gave him, to the Firemen being his pall bearers, to the casket being delivered to his graveside on top of the fire truck with the American flag draping it. As we drove to the graveside behind the Fire Engine with his casket on top (followed by a procession that has to have been a mile and a half long) I couldn’t control the tears anymore. Then to see Officer Patrick of McCreary County Sheriff’s Department had stopped traffic for Eb on Wilburn Ross Bridge & Old 27 with his hand on his heart standing in front of his car, I was so proud of the respect they showed my Uncle and the tears kept on flowing. I’m sure I saw Elbert sitting on top of the casket waving to everybody we passed from Whitley City, Stearns and finally to Pine Knot.

     This man that I thought had been cheated in life.. well the joke’s on me! He led a life we all should be jealous of and that was one fine funeral. We will still miss Elbert, we will cry for him and how he died, but now I can smile when I think of him. Now the memories and the funny stories that will make us all laugh will start to make our hearts heal. He was the thread that held us all together, just like one of Grandma’s quilts. Protect him...he was protecting us!

     So thank you God for sending him to us the way he was. I think he took your challenge and far surpassed even your expectations. He didn’t squander his life away like many “normal” children that were born. I an once again humbled by you!

    My thanks to the Pine Knot Fire Department for them bestowing the greatest of honors for someone that touched their hearts. After my Uncle Elbert, you are my heroes and will always have my undying love and respect for how you treated and respected him! God bless the Pine Knot Fire Department!