Joseph Lansing Smith, Sr., of Wilmington, died Friday, Oct. 3, 2014, at Lower Cape Fear Hospice. He was 88.
Lance was born in Wilmington on Dec. 6, 1925, son of the late Lansing Burrows Smith and Nettie Jane Fleming Smith, of Wrightsville Sound.
Growing up on Summer Rest Road as well as living there off and on over the years, Lance’s spirit and soul were deeply rooted in coastal waters. He was at his happiest when gill netting spots, shrimping, mullet seining, oystering, clamming or crabbing the Intercostal Waterway and its marshes or fishing for Blues and Spanish mackerel in a Simmons Sea Skiff off Wrightsville Beach.
Lance graduated from New Hanover High School in 1943, attended VMI for one year before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1944 and graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1948 to begin a long career in Wilmington as a CPA before retiring in 1984.
In the early 1960s, Lance, John C. Drewry and three other partners formed the Lumina Corporation and gave new life to a deteriorating Lumina Pavilion with fresh paint and a new bar called the Upper Deck, both of which are deeply ingrained in Wrightsville Beach lore. In the mid-1980s, Lance, along with his beloved nephew, Wright Holman, and three sons established Dockside Restaurant and Marina, which was sold in 2006.
Lance is survived by older sister, Nancy Smith Rose; wife, Margret E. Smith; former wife, Virginia G. Smith, mother of his three sons, Joseph L. Smith, Jr. (Lance, Jr.) and wife, Gale, Burrows G. Smith and wife, Pam and Andrew Fleming Smith and wife, Jennifer; and grandchildren, Wyatt L. Smith and Claire L. Smith.
A visitation will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014, at Andrews Mortuary, Market Street.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Lower Cape Fear Hospice, 1406 Physicians Dr., Wilmington, NC 28401 or a charity of your choice.
Please leave online condolences for the family at Andrews Mortuary.
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