Thomas Wayland Smith, Jr.

Thomas Wayland Smith, Jr., passed away peacefully in his sleep at Porta Caeli House in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 5, 2022, at the age of 85.  He was born on July 25, 1936, in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, to Thomas Wayland Smith, Sr., and Joy Sue Wilson Smith, and was their only child.  He was baptized in the First Presbyterian Church in Pawhuska on December 25, 1949.

Wayland attended grade school in Avant, Oklahoma, where his mother was a teacher and his father had a nearby ranch.  His parents bought a home in Pawhuska when Wayland was in junior high school so that he could attend Pawhuska schools.  He was graduated from Pawhuska High School in 1954 and began college that fall at Oklahoma A & M.  He was graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1958, with a Batchelor’s degree in Animal Husbandry.  Following the footsteps of his father and uncle, Wayland was a member of the Gamma Delta Chapter of Sigma Chi.  His son, Douglas, was also initiated into Sigma Chi at OSU, which pleased his dad greatly.

Upon finishing college, Wayland returned to Osage County where he continued as a third-generation rancher.  He also tried his hand as owner/operator of a sheep station in Australia, and later worked for the Australian Department of Agriculture.

Wayland was a lifelong member and former president of The Osage County Cattlemen’s Association, a lifelong member of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers’ Association, and the American Quarter Horse Association.

He was preceded in death by his father on November 29, 1984, his mother on January 15, 2000, and his eldest son, Jeffrey Wayland Smith on September 23, 2019.

He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Joanne Carson Smith, also from Pawhuska.  They were married in Pawhuska on February 26, 1978.  They have lived in Collinsville, Oklahoma, for the last ten years after Wayland’s retirement.  Surviving children are Douglas Norman Smith, Negros Occidental, Philippines; George Michael Smith, St. Paul, Minnesota; Ann Melissa Smith Cosman (Mrs. Shawn) Conroe, Texas; and Suzanne Bates Johnson (Mrs. Dave) Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Wayland has many grandchildren and great-grandchildren who brightened his life immensely.

Services will be held at a later date to accommodate his children’s attendance.  Wayland will have his final resting place in the Pawhuska Cemetery.  Any who wish to commemorate his passing may consider a memorial to Porta Caeli House, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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