1952
Daniel "Danny" Lynn Smith
2024
Daniel "Danny" Lynn Smith
December 1, 1952 — April 13, 2024
Amarillo
Memorial services will be at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in the sanctuary at Polk Street Methodist Church. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, 2800 Paramount Blvd.
Danny was born December 1, 1952, in Amarillo, TX to Scott C. Smith Jr. and Betty Lynn Smith. He is survived by his father, Scott Smith of Amarillo, Texas and his sisters, Jeanene Lea Smith and her husband Jay W. Harvey of Austin, Texas and Sandra Kay Giffen of Denver, Colorado. Danny was beloved by his surviving nieces, Madison Ann Enloe of Silverthorne, Colorado, Alexandra Paige Giffen of Richmond, Virginia and Hannah Kay Spriggs and her husband Cody Spriggs, and grandniece Willow Kay Spriggs of Topeka, Kansas. He is preceded in death by his mother, Betty Jo Lynn Smith and his grandparents Scott and Pearl Bonham Smith, and W. Leon and Vera Lynn.
Danny graduated from Amarillo High School, Class of 1971 where he proudly carried on the tradition of “Sand Man” as mascot. He also performed in many choral performances including the lead in The Music Man.
From High School he was drafted in the Army and instead decided to enlist signing up for three years. His father Scott remembers “he was in training as special forces doing parachute jumps, hand to hand combat and code breaking in Washington D.C. when a generals wife heard him singing in Chapel. She was so impressed she persuaded her husband to transfer him out of that unit and into the Army Field Band and Chorus.” This move possibly saved his life and set a musical course for the remainder of his life.
After three years of touring the U.S .and the World, Danny returned to Texas Tech and graduated with a Bachelor in Arts in 1979 and a double Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education in 1988. He continued to root for Tech always and was a lifetime member of Mu Phi Epsilon.
A true renaissance man, Danny taught school, sold real estate and outdoor advertising before his love of the outdoors called him and he began working as a carpenter. His skills led him to building projects throughout Texas and Colorado including projects for his sister Jeanene’s Y-Knot Ranch and Tommy Lee Jones ranch in San Saba, Texas.
Danny loved the cool air of the mountains and spent lots of time in Colorado and New Mexico, working on various homes and ranches from Aspen to Santa Fe not only turning out beautiful homes and tables but teaching others how to do the craft well.
Always close to his family, Danny elected to move back to Amarillo to help his parents where he became a cherished member of Polk Street Methodist Church. After growing up in Polk Street, it was a homecoming for him and his music mentor, George Biffle, High School and Church Choir director. Danny sang in the Polk Street Choir and the Silver Singers enjoying sharing the music that he loved so well.
His family has so many wonderful memories of Danny. His father Scott remembers being in the hospital building as Danny was coming into the world. “We just loved having that little baby, it was so nice. And the years I spent coaching Danny and his friends in baseball…I have so many funny stories about those boys, Danny was a good catcher of fly balls, and he played all through High School for AHS.” Scott’s words on Danny, “He was a good son.””
His sister Jeanene says, “How do you sum up a lifetime with Danny. Funny, caring, cooking, interested in others. Danny never acted jealous of things he couldn’t do, instead he wanted to hear all about what you were doing. So glad our last time together was full of laughing, eating, drinking, and swapping stories. I will miss you forever Danny.“
His sister Sandra recalls, “he was my hero, my teacher. He taught me how to notice the world around me. The flowers, trees, funny shaped rocks. He listened to me and made math make sense. He opened the world of music and took me to my first Crosby, Stills, and Nash concert. He made beautiful things out of wood. His voice is one of my favorites especially when he sang Ave Maria. There will never be enough space or time to share all he is to me.”
Madison, his oldest niece, remembers Danny “knowing something about everything. No matter what I was doing, Danny knew about it or at least a part of it and wanted to know not only that I was doing it but why I wanted to, and how I got into it from motorcycles to surfing to snowboarding to woodworking during Covid. I didn’t get to spend as much time with Danny in the last few years, but I will never forget him. His lessons will live on.”
His nieces Alex and Hannah grew up with Danny as he lived in Colorado for a large part of their growing up years.
Alex remembers “Uncle and I spent every one of my birthdays up in New Mexico at Road to Rich’s. It was a small music festival put on by Rich Martin. Rich and my uncle went to high school together and Rich and I share the same birthday and so every year in May, it was all worlds colliding, tunes to fill the air, and Uncle would always get there first and put his green camp chair with the fold out table in the spot next to him so I’d have a good campsite. One year we even went up in a hot air balloon. We watched birds, sat on the porch he built, cooked and shared camp meals and he taught me all about the world. We got to spend the weekend catching up in person, laughing and singing, bringing trinkets and small rocks that we collected for the other, exchanging seeds and homemade goods. Uncle lived in the details other people rarely have time for, but they are the details that make life worth living. Long live THE Uncle.”
Hannah who is the mother of Danny’s only great niece, Willow, shares, “A couple of my favorites are from childhood when we would go camping in the green Volkswagen van and during Christmas time when Uncle was “Santa” and always did the passing of the gifts. He always made sure to get his Santa hat and really play the part.”
Daniel, Danny, Smitty, his friends will remember his beautiful baritone voice, his kindness, his joy of singing, and if they were really lucky, they got to taste his homemade sour dough bread with the starter from his granny!
Daniel, Danny, Smitty. You touched lives. You changed lives. You were loved by many. You were a success.
The family requests in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Texas Tech School of Music Scholarship Endowment Fund in memory of Daniel Lynn Smith.
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