Bo Smith's Personal Webpage
(Last Updated: May 7th, 2008)

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield"
Tennyson, "Ulysses"

Click HERE for 'High Flight'

I am now retired (for the second time).  This first time, in 1991,  was after 28 years in the Navy.  More recently, I retired in May, 2007 after 16 years of teaching Earth/Space Science in Jacksonville, Florida.  You can learn about some of my work as an educator in the "professional" section of the website.


A the end of July and early August, 2007, I did some "rock hounding" in western North Carolina in conjunction with the Gem and Mineral Festival in Spruce Pine. I love the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina; second only to the mountains of Idaho and Montana. I will add some pictures of this trip soon!

I completed a trip at the end of June during which I visited my daughter Stacy and her fincee, Jed in Raleigh, North Carolina;  my Cornell Phi Kappa Psi fraterinity brother, Reg Woods in Charlottsville, Virginia, and my sister Barbara and her daughter Melissa and her family in New Jersey. Click here to see some pictures and more details of this trip.

Fishing: I have resumed my interest in fishing now that Iam retired. MOPst of my fishing ventures are with my fiend Lehman Barnes, a sort of retired professor. Some of our fishing pictures are included below:

Our initial fishing was conducted in May 2007 from the surf near the jetties at  NAS Mayport.  I caught this 'black drum' on my second cast. 
In June, 2007, I went fishing on a 'Fluke boat' in New Jersey with my sister Barbara.  We ate this 18" 'monster'.

 
 

Lehman and I went fishing February 26th, 2008 at the Jacksonville Beach pier and Lehman caught this nice 12" Whiting.  

This is a beautiful Bluefish I caught off the JAX pier on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

 

Wearing my 'lucky' ponytail fishing cap didn't bring me much luck on May 5th, 2008

Lehman didn't catch much either except for this small skate.

 

My friend, Diana Groover, came along and finally caught her first fish! :-)

 

Lehman's wife, Marianne, came along for her first attempt at fishing putting us all to shame catching many small 'croakers' including two at one time!
My Parents and Childhood (coming soon)
My Sister (coming soon)
My Daughters and Grandchildren
 These are my five daughters from left to right;

Stacy, Laura, Lindsay, Heather, Jessica
 

To learn more about my daughters and grandchildren,
                            click HERE
 

My Navy

 This is a younger me, a 25 year old A4 pilot onboard the USS Intrepid CV-11 off the coast of Vietnam)

Click HERE for a information about my navy career

My Recently Departed "Significant Other"
My great fried and "Significant Other", Bobbi Jones, died recently  of respiratory failure due to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (C.O..P.D.).  Bobbi had been on the Shands Gainesville lung transplant list for about four years. I first met Bobbi in 1982 when I was the Commanding Officer of Attack Squadron One Seventy Four at Cecil Field in Jacksonville.  She was an Aviation Electricians Mate Third Class in the Line Division of the squadron.  She was one of the hardest and most dedicated workers in the sqadron.  Her performance was so exemplary that I awarded her a Navy Achievement Medal.  She was one of the first women to work on a navy aircraft carrier flight deck.  When the squadron would temporarily deploy to an aircraft carrier for replacement pilot carrrier qualiifications, Bobbi was a 'final checker' at the catapult. She retired from the navy in 1996 as a First Class Petty Officer.  We both became divorced from our second spouses in 2000.  Sometime after that, Bobbi came across my name when surfing the Internet and sent me an email.  We became very close after that, travelling to her beloved Idaho, enjoying the Jaguars games, and sharing stories about our respective perspectives about the navy.   She was always loyal to her country and to the navy and was a caring and thoughtful friend.  It was difficult seeing Bobbi's health decline.  But, she always had a dominant spirit and a warm heart. I will miss her!!
Bobbi Jones.  I met her first in the Navy and then later via the Internet.  She was one of the first women in the Navy to be assigned as a flight deck troubleshooter launching A7 jet aircraft from an aircraft carrier flight deck. She contracted Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) while in the Navy. During the last four years, while mostly confined to her home  waitimg for the Shands Gainesville lung transplant team to call her for her lung, she  developed considerable skill in making one of a kind beaded necklaces.  She formed a small business called 3bCreations and displayed her necklaces on her website. 

My Ex-Wives
Mary Emerson Smith(1963-1978)- I met Mary when I was a junior at Cornell and she was a freshman at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. We were married in January, 1963 and enjoyed my senior year at Cornell living in an apartment in "College Town" off campus. Were married for fifteen (15) years. Our first daughter, Heather was born in Pensacola,Florida while I was in basic flight training. Our second daughter, Laura, was born in Kingsville in 1964 wile I wa sin Advanced Jet Flight Training. Our third daughter, Stacy, was born in Jacksonville in 1971 while I was in VA-82. Mary is retired from a career as a clinical psychologist where she specialized in helping troubled teenaged girls.  She lives in Atlantic Beach, Florida but spends much of her time travelling either for pleasuure, doing research on a book project, or  either San Luis Obispo helping Heather and David out with our grandsons Austin and Hadden or lately in Columbia, South Carolina helping Laura and Steve with our new grandaughter Elisa. Mary and the girls and their families try to get together once each summer in Duxbury, Massachussets where we all have so many pleasant memories!

Catherine Hull-Ryde Smith. (1978-2000)- I met Cathy in Naples, Italy while on cruise. Her father, Captain Don Hull-Ryde was stationed in Naples at the time.  Cathy and I were married in August, 1978 in Orange Park, Florida while I was the new Commanding Officer of the VA-15 Valions. We lived in the Club Continental in Orange Park. After VA-15, we moved to Hawaii while I had a tour with Commander Third Fleet (1968-1980), We lived in Ford Island in navy quarters on the shore of Ford Island near the USS Arizona.  We returned to Jacksonville for my tour and Commanding Officer of VA-174 and a short tour as Commanding Office of Fleet Area Surveilance Facility Jacksonville.  We lived in navy quarters at NAS Jacsonville during that tour where our first daughter, Jessica was born in 1981. We remained in Jacksonville after VA-174 for my next tour as Executive Officer of USS Saratoga (CV-60) (1982-1984) but we moved out near the beach so I could be closer to the ship.  After a period where I was on temporary duty getting training to be a  Captain of a "deep draft" ship,  we moved to Little Creek, Virginia for my tour as Commanding Officer, USS Austin (LPD-4) (1986-1988). Our second daughter, Lindsay, wa s born In Norfolk, Virginia during that tour.  After the Austin, we moved back to Mayport for my tour as Chief of Staff for Commander Cruiser Destroyer Group Twelve.  We bought a house in "THe Woods" near the beach during that tour. Next, we moved to Atsugi Japan for my tour with the Staff of Commander Fleet Air Western Pacific (1989-1991). After retirement ceremony was held in Atsigi in June, 1991, we moved back into our house in "The Woods".  I was officially retired from the Navy July 31st, 1991 and began teaching science in September, 1991.  We remained in our house in "THe Woods" until our divorce in April, 2000. Cathy moved around a bit as a flight attendant after our divorce living temporarily in St. Louis while she was employed by TWA , and next in North Carolina and then back to Jacksonville when she was working for USAIR. She quit working with USAIR when they closed their Jacksonville base.  She has been working for some time now with a local business and owns a house nearby in east Jacksonville.

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