We will miss the Mayor's quiet leadership
By: WALTER WEBB, Editor
If someone had never known Eddie Lee Smith, Jr., they would have come away from his funeral at the W. A. McMillan Multi-Purpose Center on the Rust College campus with the essence of a man who loved this town, loved his family, loved his church, loved making this a better community.One after one, people came to the podium before the packed crowd who came to pay their respects, to tell how Eddie Lee Smith had touched their lives.
He'd been a teacher and principal at Galena Elementary and for 27 years he had held administrative positions at Rust College while he advised students and influenced their lives with his encouragement that they could be somebody.
He had been a force for change during the civil rights era by registering voters and pushing desegregation of schools.
When he stepped forward to offer himself for service to the community he was chosen as the first black alderman for the city of Holly Springs.
Though he was defeated for reelection, he came back again seeking the office of mayor, only to be defeated again.
But he could not accept defeat and tried again, being elected to his first of almost three terms he would serve.
Though he possessed a quiet demeanor, things changed around Eddie Lee Smith.
He was able to bridge across racial barriers and bring people together to find solutions.
In his management of city affairs, strategic planning was his blueprint of what things should be, and he stuck to that plan.
Those plans included the Memphis Street Revitalization Project which has long-range implications for improvement of one of the city's main entrances.
As his term neared a close those plans were falling together with the funds coming in from the tourism tax he championed to build a multi-purpose center and a park in Spring Hollow.
After years and years of funds for the Holly Springs North Bypass sitting on the shelves, that project is back on the burner and will be named the Eddie Lee Smith Drive.
Mayor Smith's door was always open and I always came away with the idea that he knew the way he wanted to move the city and he was patient enough to build the support and quietly move things in that direction.
His leadership will be missed. But a city must continue moving forward or it falls behind.
Police Chief Jimmie Howell pretty well summed it up for me during his remarks at the funeral services.
He said the town needs to come together. That's what Eddie Lee Smith, the bridge-builder, would tell us.