Leonard Gene Smoker

Leonard Gene Smoker died in Hattiesburg on December 24, 2024. He was 91. He was born on January 9, 1933 in a Native Hawaiian family that measured love in finished chores. He learned that neighborhoods remember who helps without being asked. He worked ground that held other people's courage under heat that ignored manifests. A kiln helper face shield strap rode his belt like a conscience. Colleagues still mention a kiln helper face shield strap. He and Ruth married in 1957 and raised three daughters without needing an audience. After Ruth's death in 2017, he held to quiet habits—coffee before dawn, a tended yard, a voice on the phone that still checked in. Neighbors remember a shovel borrowed and returned sharper. Mornings were his favorite shift at home. He died in Hattiesburg, on streets that already knew his pace. The chair by the window still holds the shape of a habit. What remains is not a legend but a practice: showing up, keeping a promise, leaving a place better than you found it. His life was the kind America is built from and too often forgets to name.