It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of former RMI Board Chairman, Larry Alvin Smith, of Lafayette, Louisiana on January 4, 2012. Larry was 63 and is survived by his dear wife, Kay, and 5 adult children, Ally, Jason, Becca, Jessie and Lizzie.
Larry was an entrepreneur, a businessman, a fabulous chef and host, a violinist, avid golfer and many other things. He was a charter member and elder of Trinity Bible Church for over 30 years. It was through Trinity’s involvement with RMI as a Sister Church that he first went to Haiti in the 1990’s. He fell in love with the Haitian people and he made sure that his next visit included his wife, Kay. Over the next 15 or so years they returned to visit their brothers and sisters in the Picot church numerous times. When there were school or church benches to be built, Larry joyfully grabbed the glue bottle and became the “Mighty GLUEMAN"!. The Picot people loved Larry as much as he loved them. Being a chef and from Louisiana, he wanted to share some of his homeland’s delicacies. He brought in sausage, bought local chicken and made gumbo for 75 people during one of his visits. Each year after that it grew, meaning he needed to bring in even more sausage. The team’s rallying cry each visit was “forget the luggage, but make SURE that sausage gets there!”. Every time the team arrived, the Haitians greeted Larry with cries of “GUM – BO!!!” Eventually they were feeding 700 people before they had to call it quits. To this day everyone in the area remembers Larry's Gumbo!
Larry joined the RMI Board in 1998 and became the Chairman in 2001. He served in that capacity until 2007 when, according to Board policy, he cycled off of the Board. His leadership and input for those 9 years were priceless. We appreciated his involvement with RMI over the years. His care and concern for RMI in general was amazing. We enjoyed Kay’s involvement with RMI as well. They were both a breath of fresh air. At one meeting Kay was unable to come with Larry. She missed it so much she made it known in no uncertain terms that she was to come with Larry each and every time, no matter what. Since he owned Acadiana Bottling Co., the Lafayette area’s Pepsi distributors, it became the unofficial drink of the RMI Board. Larry took his loyalty to Pepsi very seriously and wouldn’t tolerate a Coke product anywhere near him. We quickly learned that it was nothing to joke about. :)
For several years, Larry organized and hosted a golf tournament to benefit Hope for Kidz.
Larry and Kay were great friends with RMI President, Dan Shoemaker, his wife, Debbie, and their 2 children, Devon and Dawn, for almost 20 years. When they came home from Haiti and went through the Lafayette area during the summers, Larry and Kay hosted them in their home. He cooked and hosted gatherings with a flair, let the kids ride horses, fish in their pond, swim in the pool and generally made them feel like royalty. On one memorable occasion, Larry made arrangements for his family, the Shoemakers and several Trinity church friends to celebrate Devon’s birthday in his presidential suite in the Cajundome during a Charlie Daniels / Dave Mathews Band concert. He treated everyone to a fabulous catered meal and a gourmet birthday cake. Another year he treated them to an Elton John concert in the suite. He is the reason that Dan, Debbie, Devon and Dawn all love hot, spicy Cajun food. It was delightful when a foal was born during one of our visits, and Larry named it Dandee, after Dan. After one of his first visits to Haiti, he fell in love with Debbie’s Mango jelly. He took it home and had his lab formulate a mango drink from it.
Kay and Larry were a part of RMI’s DNA for many years and made an indelible impression on all of us. His care, compassion, smile, generosity, energy, zest for life and endless ideas of how to help RMI and his Haitian brothers and sisters will be greatly missed.
Dan Shoemaker and RMI founder, Herb Shoemaker, traveled to Lafayette for the funeral which took place at Trinity Bible Church on January 7, 2012. Larry’s obituary can be found HERE.
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