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Show ; x ; - v L ! MOURNED Sugar House pays final tribute to "first citizen" citi-zen" A. C. (Bert) Smoot. Final Tribute Paid Pioneer Of S. H. Section The flag in the Sugar House plaza hung at half staff last week end, (and the entire community com-munity mourned the passing of the community's No 1 citizen, A. C. (Bert) Smoot, who died at the age of 80 last Friday after aft-er a prolonged illness. Final tribute to the beloved "Uncle Bert" who was known by thousands thou-sands and credited with being the founder of the Sugar House business district, was paid St funeral services Monday noon in the Granite stake tabernacle, and as a mark of respect nearly every business concern in the southeast closed its ;doors during dur-ing the. services. . ' I Only a few months ago friends gathered in the same building and amid scenes of gayety and ; comradeship celebrated , th eightieth birthday anniversary of the man who had done so j much in a business and civic way for this community. Mr. Smoot who had spent most of his long life in this section was 'prominently identified with ev-I ev-I ery advancement in the region. I In addition to his widespread business interests, he was first ; president of the Sugar House I Businessmen's league, and a I charter member and past presi-1 presi-1 dent of the Sugar House Rotary I club. j A familiar figure throughout i the section, "Uncle Bert" was I around "the corner," scene of most of his long business career, ca-reer, nearly every day, pausing , to chat and exchange pleasan-i pleasan-i tries with his countless friends I and acquaintances. Gifted with a dry wit and a rare sense of I humor, he enlivened any company com-pany in which he found himself. He (rarely missed the regular : Thursday luncheons of the Ro-:tary Ro-:tary club at Weasku Inn, and more than once he would bring along as guests hitch-biking war veterans he would pick up along the way. Mr. Smoot, born in Salt Lake on Dec. 10, 1805, was the son of William C. A. and Martha Ann Sessions Smoot, U.uh pioneer settlers, who entered the Salt Lake Valley with Urigham Young, July 24, 1847. During his youth he resided in Provo, I with a brother, W. C. A. Smoot Jr., where he jattended the Brig-ham Brig-ham Young Academy and was graduated in 1888. Upon his return to Salt Lake, ihe established the General Mer-! Mer-! chandise Store, now located on i the present site of Sugar House Plaza. He operated this store until 1906, when he went into the lumber business. He later bcame president Of the Smoot Improvement Company, which position he held until the time of his death. On Sept. 27, 1891, he married Mary Evelyn Fisher Smoot, who survives him. Also surviving are a son and daughter, Allert F. Smoot and Mrs. Fern Smoot Hansen, Salt Lake; two sisters, Mrs. Eliza Dearing, Elk, JCalif., and Mrs. Phila Laurensen, Mc- Gill, Nev., and a half brother, W. H. Smoot, Stockton, Calif. |