Former BC Police Chief Smith, who spurred early growth, dies at 74

Valerie Miller

Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 | 11:03 a.m.

Former Boulder City Police Chief H.G. "Smitty" Smith died Wednesday of heart failure at Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas. He was 74.

Born Horace G. Smith, Jr. on Jan. 23, 1926, in York, Pa., Smith was a Southern Nevada resident for 47 years. He served as Boulder City Police chief from 1966 to 1975.

Smith served in the Coast Guard as a radioman third class during World War II and then worked at the Nevada Test Site before becoming one of the first members of the Boulder City Police Department in 1960.

Smith rose through the ranks of the force and was promoted to police chief in 1966.

Smith's popularity in Boulder City was evident after his dismissal as chief in 1975 following a dispute with the city manager. More than 200 people signed a petition requesting his reinstatement. Smith appealed his dismissal and won. He retired later that year.

Smith is credited with helping bring the police department out of its infancy by adding additional vehicles and officers during the decade he served as chief.

His efforts won him the Police Association's general commendation award.

Smith received numerous other accolades, including a place in the National Police Hall of Fame and two appointments to the Commission on Crime Delinquency and Correction.

Smith was also a lifetime member of the Boulder City Elks Lodge.

"He instilled a sense of leadership in the people who followed him," Boulder City Police Lt. Tom Bassinger said. While Bassinger served on the force after Smith's retirement, he knew Smith and said Smith's impact is still felt today.

"He was take-charge type of person," Bassinger said. "He was very well-liked in the community, and the people in Boulder City still talk about him today."

After retirement Smith worked as chief of security at the Eldorado Club in Henderson until 1988. He continued working part time in security at Sam's Town in 1989 before being hired part time at the Jockey Club in 1990, where he worked until his death.

While working at the Jockey Club, Smith was reunited with another former member of the Boulder City Police, retired Capt. Howard Tindall.

"He (Smith) recommended me for the job I have now at the Jockey Club, chief of security," Tindall said. "It's kind of funny because on the Boulder City Police force he was my chief, and here I was his chief. We used to joke about that."

Tindall said Smith left his mark on the Boulder City Police Department.

"He brought a degree of professionalism to the police department," Tindall said.

"He had these blue eyes that could see right through you, and I never saw him back down from man nor beast."

After his retirement from the police force, Smith pursued his hobby of making jewelry out of quartz and rocks with his second wife, Judith Ann. Together they ran a jewelry and gift shop business from 1988 to 1996.

Judith Smith met her future husband through a twist of fate, she said.

"I was out here (Southern Nevada) on a trip with my two children and we were going to see Hoover Dam," she remembered. "I was speeding through Boulder City, and I got stopped by a police officer who turned out to be Smitty. He didn't give me a ticket, but he just told me to be careful."

Years later, after she divorced and moved to Las Vegas, she encountered Smith again, when they were both working at the Eldorado Club. The couple married on Sept. 27, 1982.

"I have been told by his fellow officers that I was the only one he ever let off the hook for a ticket," she said.

Judith Smith said that her husband instilled strength in all those around him, not just his fellow officers.

"He taught me and my children how to stand up for ourselves. I'm a different person than before I knew him. I'm stronger.

"I think he would want to be remembered as a person who tried to make a difference," she said. "And he did a darn good job of it."

In addition to his wife, Smith is survived by two daughters, Catherine Weaver of Sitka, Alaska, and Clarissa Munoz of Las Vegas; and one son, Frank Munoz of Las Vegas; two sisters, Joan Pothuff of Las Vegas and Nancy Loomis of Cottonwood, Ariz.; and two brothers, Ted Smith of St. George, Utah, and William Smith of Lincoln, Neb.

Visitation is scheduled 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday at Palm Mortuary 800 S. Boulder Highway, Henderson. Services are scheduled 9 a.m. Tuesday at Palm.

Burial will be at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Tuesday at 10 a.m.