V. Richard Smith, 87, longtime LaGrange resident, passed away peacefully on June 20, 2014, surrounded by his family. Dick grew up in Maywood, Illinois, on a block that included his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Spending summers in the Northwoods of Wisconsin nurtured a lifelong love of fishing and the outdoors, and helping out at his family’s Maywood Nursery business gave Dick a deep knowledge of and appreciation for trees, plants and flowers. He attended Proviso East High School, and met the love of his life Lorraine at a dance. By all accounts the two didn’t hit it off immediately, but Dick told his daughters that Lorraine was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Dick was drafted in 1944 and served in the 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, in World War II. He considered his time in Europe during the war one of the great experiences of his life, and joked that he actually liked the food in the army. Upon returning home, Dick attended Grinnell College, where he majored in philosophy. Toward the end of his college career he transferred to and graduated from Elmhurst College; though he loved Grinnell, he wanted to be closer to Lorraine. The two married in 1950 and had six daughters. Dick was always happiest when he was with his family, and with gusto he helped raise his girls, teaching them to play tennis and basketball, recommending good books (Robinson Crusoe, The Catcher in the Rye), and making everyone laugh, always. Dick enjoyed a successful career in the plastics industry, eventually co-founding Plastic Film Corporation in 1977. An avid traveler, Dick relished his business trips to Asia, as well as many vacations in Europe, Hawaii, and the Caribbean with Lorraine, friends, and children. After Dick’s retirement, he and Lorraine loved their winter vacations in Palm Desert; heaven for him was enjoying a martini on the patio while doing a double crostic and keeping an eye on the golf greens. He had a weird and fantastic sense of humor, and Lorraine was always there to egg him on, whether he was painting the exterior of the house in an old business suit, using an ax to chop at the artificial Christmas tree box, or making a funny play on words. Dick was creative, authoring two books of fiction and making abstract sculptures influenced by his favorites, Alberto Giacometti and Henry Moore. He was, in many ways, a man ahead of his time, dragging friends to see Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong, cheering Wilma Rudolph and Jackie Robinson, and embracing computers way back in the 1970s. In a note to his family, Dick wrote, “I want to be remembered as an honest man,” and he will be. Dick loved life and always tried to do—and did—the right thing. He is survived by Lorraine; his daughters Susan, Stacey, Nancy Hanley, Laury (Dennis) Clark, Melissa (Daniel) Marguerite, and Christine (Gregory) Benz; grandchildren Kevin (Megan), Timothy, and Nichole Hanley; Elizabeth, Benjamin, and Ellen Tooley; and Madeline and Emily Marguerite; and great-grandchildren Arianna, Isabelle, and Ethan Hanley. He is also survived by his sister Jacquelyn (Richard) Petitt, numerous nieces and nephews, and many friends, including fishing buddy Arnold Hanson and the remaining Wheaton and Glen Ellyn gang. The family wishes to thank his outstanding doctor, Jason Griffin, as well as Dick’s exceptional caregivers in his later years: his grandson Ben, granddaughter Ellie, “Miss Dee,” Barb, and especially his granddaughter Elizabeth. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Helping Hand Center www.hhrehab.org. Visitation will be held from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 26, at Hallowell & James Funeral Home , 1025 W. 55th Street, Countryside, IL. A service in celebration of Dick’s life will be begin at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 27, at the funeral home.