Craig Smith (Bedford)

Craig F. Smith (Bedford), 78, of Big Pine Key, Florida and formerly of Packanack Lake in Wayne, died on Friday, May 21, 2021 after a prolonged illness. He was affectionately known as “The Big Guy.”

Craig was born in Teaneck, NJ and graduated from Hackensack High School in 1960.

A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Craig served on the U.S.S. Fort Snelling, then three tours in Vietnam on the U.S.S. Enterprise. On one occasion while home on temporary leave from service, Craig visited a tavern where his Uncle Charles Loughman was bartender. In came this tall, beautiful young lady who was attending grad school up the street at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She certainly caught Craig’s eye and, as luck would have it, Uncle Charlie knew her and was able to introduce her to Craig. Her name was Marguerite “Marge” Siersma and, to say their relationship got off to a great start would have to be the understatement of the 20th century. This encounter in the tavern occurred on a Friday afternoon and two days later – a mere 48 hours, they eloped to Fairfax, Virginia, and got married at the Fairfax United Methodist Church on Sunday, May 1, 1967. They would have married in New Jersey but there was a three day waiting period to get a marriage license and Craig and Marge didn’t want to wait that long.

Newly married, Craig and Marge lived for the first eight years in Hanahan, SC where Craig was stationed with the Navy. Besides those three tours to Vietnam on the U.S.S. Enterprise, Craig also served a tour on the U.S.S. Skill. It was the last tour for that ship and Craig had the honor of de-commissioning it. It was around this time that Craig’s father-in-law passed away. His mother-in-law called and offered Integrity Enterprises, the family-owned pool liner manufacturing business, located in Fairfield, to Craig and Marge. Very soon after, in 1973, Craig was honorably discharged from the Navy. For his thirteen years of service to his country, Craig was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Upon return to civilian life, Craig and Marge relocated to the Packanack Lake section of Wayne where they purchased the home located at 46 Oakwood Drive. Some years later, they moved to the other side of the lake, to the home located at 75 Alpine Drive. During over thirty years as residents in Packanack Lake, Craig was active in the community, including serving on the Board of Governors for the Packanack Lake Golf Club.

Craig and Marge were blessed with two great children – their son William “Bill” and their daughter Marguerite. With a father like Craig, life in the Smith house was interesting to say the least. When they were little, Craig was known for saying crazy stuff to them like “Hey kids, I hear a truck coming. Why don’t you go play in the street?”  Bill and Marguerite will always have fond memories of traveling with Dad and Mom and camping in the Carolinas. There was always lots of singing on those trips and Craig would say things like “Oh! Look kids, there’s a Burger King! Oh, too bad, there it goes.”

Craig and Marge always had an ‘open door’ policy at their home, welcoming everyone. If you walked through their door, you were treated like family, and they were even known to let friends move in and stay for a while when necessary. Their pool parties were the stuff of legends and regularly featured karaoke with the likes of Craig himself flipping up his collar and doing his best Elvis impersonation. Pool parties were only topped by the unforgettable, Christmas Eve celebrations at the Smiths house! The house would be overflowing with friends, mountains of food, plenty to drink, and Santa would always arrive bearing gifts for all the kids. It was consistently an incredible time for all of their guests, and the laughs would last for weeks. Craig and Marge unwittingly caused a bit of a crisis for many of their friends when they retired to Florida in 2004 and the Christmas Eve parties ended! Some friends called them that first Christmas and said “we’ve been going to your party for so many years and we just don’t know what to do with ourselves now!”

Who would have thought that two people, marrying 48 hours after meeting each other, could have such a blessed marriage? Well, that’s exactly what Craig and Marge had. For their 50th wedding anniversary they renewed their wedding vows and had a party at the Cosmopolitan on Route 23 in Wayne. Craig liked to joke that Marge robbed the cradle but, truth be told, she was only two-and-a-half months older than him.

They traveled to many domestic and foreign pool conventions and after trips with Eileen and Bob Malahame of Pennsylvania and their children, Matthew and Jennifer. Craig and Marge were very fortunate to be able to travel around the world with their dear friends, the O’Connor’s, the Silk’s and the Hatolski’s. They had so many laughs together!  For example, when making reservations for dinner, they would always book the reservation under the name “O’Smilks” which was a little bit of each of their last names put together. During all their travels, Craig and Marge, visited every continent except Antarctica. Craig would always come home with incredible stories about their trip, some of them so incredible that he’d have to tell you “…true story, kiddo. True story!” Craig was a funny, crazy, happy and super outgoing human being. It was very common for Craig to say something like, “Hey Pal, gotta minute? Can I tell you a story?”  He will be dearly missed by countless friends and all of his loving family.

Craig is survived by his beloved wife, Marguerite “Marge” Smith of Big Pine Key, FL, two children; William ‘Bill’ Smith and his wife Tammy of Kinnelon, Marguerite Kabula and her husband Curt of Wayne, four grandchildren; Brett and Brandon Smith of Kinnelon, and Trent and Maggie Kabula of Wayne, two brothers; Harry Bedford and wife Jana of Hewitt, NJ, David Bedford and wife Linda of Myrtle Beach, SC, and two sisters; Barbara Newman and husband Fred of Louisburg, NC, and Joann Nicoletti and husband Ralph of Port St. Lucie, FL.