J. Pleas Smith

Long-time general contractor and civic leader John Pleas Smith, 92, of Dalton died Friday, January 22 (2016) at home following an extended illness.
The Dalton native graduated from Dalton High School in 1940 and received a degree in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1944. A life-long lover of music, he played saxophone in the first Dalton High School Band and also in the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Band. Completing R.O.T.C. at Tech, he was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served as acting post engineer at Fort Hamilton, N.Y. during World War II.
Upon returning to Dalton in 1946 after the war, he married Jane Strozier Smith and started to work for his cousin, Forrest Barrett, at Barrett Construction Co. He continued playing saxophone in a local orchestra. A year later in 1947, he and Raymond Wrinkle started Smith & Wrinkle Construction Co.
When Mr. Wrinkle retired, Smith invited Jay Green to become his new partner forming Smith & Green Construction Co. which emphasized commercial and industrial construction. This company operated until 2009 completing 62 years and hundreds of buildings in Northwest Georgia.
Pleas was an active member of First United Methodist Church where he chaired and served on numerous committees, including the Administrative Board and the Board of Trustees. A quiet man, he lived his faith daily.

A longtime member of the Rotary Club of Dalton, he served as president in the mid-1970’s.
His construction expertise was tapped when he served on the former Water, Light and Sinking Fund Commission, now known as the Dalton Utilities Board. He served on various community commissions and boards including the Dalton-Whitfield Planning Commission and the C & S Bank board.
A generous man, he preferred to give anonymously and without fanfare. He and fellow investors donated land for Friendship House Daycare Center, Civitan Park, and Whitfield County green space on Crow Valley Mountain.
He was a builder of buildings, but he also was a builder of family and friends and treasured many people including his wife, children, grandchildren, relatives, friends, colleagues, employees and associates. In 92 years of living, he collected many special people in his life.
An outdoorsman who especially loved quail hunting and fishing, he had a special affinity for birddogs and owned many in his lifetime. With a twinkle in his eye, Pleas remarked that perhaps this was due to the fact that the day he was born at home on Riverbend Road in Dalton, a neighbor’s bird dog gave birth to a litter of puppies under the Smith house.
In the 1960’s, he purchased property to build what the family refers to as a “farm” and built two lakes, a perimeter road and cut-through roads to various fields he cultivated with a variety of crops. A conservationist, he declared that this property was to remain as close to natural as possible so that his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren could enjoy nature at its best.

Smith is survived by one son, Carl Alan Smith; four daughters and three sons-in-law, Jean and Dick Lowrey, Ellen and Rick King, Anne Walker, Shirley and Gary Westmoreland; five grandchildren and one grandson-in-law, Kristen Lowrey, Courtney and Jack Hitchens, Andy King, Mason Westmoreland and Gavin Westmoreland; three step- grandchildren, Rob Walker, Paul Walker (Elicia) and Amy Faelyn (Jasmine); one great-grandson, Jackson Hitchens; one step great-grandson, Nick Walker; and one niece, Carolyn Smith Thompson.
The family expressed special thanks to four wonderful caregivers led by Margeana Norris and including Landon Norris, Terry Hall and Wendi Farris.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Jane Strozier Smith; his son-in-law, Stan Walker; his parents, John Pleas and Pearl Duane Smith; three brothers, G. W. Smith, Duane Smith and George Edward Smith.
A memorial service is scheduled for Monday, January 25 (2016) at 2 p.m. in Famber Hall of the First United Methodist Church of Dalton with the Rev. Dr. Robin Lindsey officiating. The family will receive friends from noon until 2 p.m. in the atrium of the church. Burial will be in West Hill Cemetery in Dalton.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be given to the First United Methodist Church of Dalton, 500 S. Thornton Ave., Dalton, GA 30720.
Love Funeral Home, 1402 N. Thornton Ave., Dalton, is in charge of arrangements.