Born at home, 104 East Boulevard, Gloversville, NY; Sherwood Albert Homer Smith was the eldest son of Helen Jeffers Smith and Homer E.S. Smith, Jr. He was educated in the Gloversville schools, graduating with the GHS Class of 1940. He worked in his father’s gas station, “Kingsboro Filling Station, Homer Smith Co.” at 206 Kingsboro Avenue, Gloversville for a short time following graduation. Sherwood then went to work for Upstate Telephone Company of NY in September of 1940, starting at $18.00 per week.
Along came World War II and on September 17, 1942 Sherwood entered the Coast Guard. He was stationed in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, with the USCG Telephone System. They built and maintained the communications system that was used by the Coast Guardsmen that were guarding the islands dotting the southeast coastline. He was honorably discharged as Petty Officer, Electricians Mate 2nd Class on February 20, 1946.
Sherwood returned to Gloversville where he once again joined his father’s business. A year later (1947), he bought out his father’s interest. In 1953 he started in the foreign car business at the gas station. His first cars were an MG and a Morris Minor bought directly from the importer, J.S. Inskip.
There was no other foreign car dealer within 50 miles, so as soon as it became known that he was an imported car dealer, anyone who owned a foreign car in the area came in for service. Sherwood acquired other lines and became a dealer for: Saab, Renault, Fiat, Alfa-Romeo, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Borgward, Citroën, Fairthorpe, Wartburg, Austin-Healey, Austin sedans, Dyna-Panhard, Riley, Volkswagen, and Tempo-Matador Truck.
In 1957, Sherwood moved his growing business to 37 acres of farmland he purchased on a handshake. The dealership, “Kingsboro Motor Sales” was built on a parcel now known as 108-118 S. Comrie Avenue, in Johnstown. As the import car business grew in the States it became more sophisticated. The importers started to require separate facilities for each car line and began franchising their dealers. With the exception of SAAB, which he began selling in 1956, Sherwood began to drop the many brands that he held and started looking for other possibilities.
The Studebaker franchise became available and in November 1961, Sherwood became a Studebaker dealer. Studebaker also became a foreign car manufacturer. In December 1963 they closed their plant in South Bend, Indiana and continued production at Studebaker’s Hamilton, Ontario factory until the last Studebaker was completed on March 17, 1966. Sherwood found out about the demise of Studebaker while eating dinner and watching NBC’s “Huntley-Brinkley Report”. The next day he received a telegram from Studebaker telling him they had shut down.
On June 6, 1966, Sherwood became a Chrysler/Plymouth dealer. It was a fun time to be a Plymouth dealer with the Hemi-Cuda, Road Runner, and later the 1970 Super Bird! With this new franchise came the opportunity to take part in the “Plymouth Trouble Shooting Contest”, a national competition. Twenty-plus dealers in the Albany area participated at the local level. For his part, Sherwood furnished a car (Plymouth Barracuda, etc.) to Johnstown High School for their Auto Mechanics class to practice on. On the day of the contest the cars were first tuned to specs by factory representatives. Next they were identically bugged with about 14 defects so the cars would not start. A timed start tracked each team of two student mechanics – the team that got their car started and fine-tuned to specs in the shortest amount of time, won.
By the early seventies, as a Chrysler dealer, Sherwood was representing only one manufacturer. He let SAAB go and focused on being part of the “Big Three” in the automotive world, as General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler were known back then. He also incorporated his business and it became, “Sherwood Smith Motors, Inc.”
During that decade he rode out the uncertainties of:
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the “Oil Crisis” due to an oil embargo when US retail gas prices rose from a national average of 38.5 cents in May 1973 to 55.1 cents in June 1974
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the 1979 “Oil Shock” decreased oil output in the wake of the Iranian Revolution triggered unjustified widespread panic and long lines at the gas pump - $.86 a gallon
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Chrysler’s 1980 bailout
Ever the optimist, Sherwood approached every challenge with steadfast confidence that it would all work out; and it did. In 1987, he retired after 34 years in the car business.
On a personal level, referring back to 1947, Sherwood wrote: “The station was a great place to meet people. I enjoyed meeting people, and there I met the ‘Love of my Life’ – Betty Ruth Stead. She not only caught my eye, she took my heart as well.” They were married on February 6, 1949. All these years later, he still felt the exact same way.
They have had a wonderful life together, raising their three daughters and the nearly 30 years of retirement that followed. Sherwood was a talented craftsman building desks and dressers, as well as Barbie doll beds for his girls! Family vacations were summer road trips with no particular destination in mind but the girls would plead for the motel with the swimming pool which he happily obliged. As their children grew up, the business afforded Betty and Sherwood quite a few convention destinations. Both were avid golfers and when they travelled they “took the clubs” with them. They played many great courses including the Greenbrier CC in West Virginia, Indian Wells CC in California (home of the Bob Hope Desert Classic), Tory Pines CC in Southern California, The Doral CC in Miami, Castle Harbour Golf Club in Bermuda, and much more. A golf highlight was Sherwood’s opportunity to play in “The International Golfing Fellowship of Rotary” Tournament in Pinehurst, NC. His third and final day he played with Sergio Pininfarina of Torino, Italy whose company designs and makes bodies for Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati sports cars.
Sherwood joined the Gloversville Rotary Club in the early 60’s, and transferred to the Johnstown Rotary Club when he moved his family to Johnstown in 1965. He served on the Board of Directors and was their President in 1968-1969. Sherwood maintained perfect attendance for 21 consecutive years. Elsewhere in the community he was on the boards of the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, the Johnstown Hospital, Albany Savings Bank, and a 3-year term on the NYS Automobile Dealers Association Board of Directors. He also served as president of the Fulton County Community Development Corporation (‘62), the Johnstown Chamber of Commerce (’63), and later the newly formed Fulton County Chamber of Commerce. Sherwood lent his pleasing baritone to the choir at North Main United Methodist Church and later, the First Presbyterian Church in Johnstown. As a young man he also sang barbershop. Sherwood forever sang in the shower (according to Betty) and was frequently heard humming a melody or whistling a happy tune wherever he was.
Retiring as snowbirds in 1989: Lakeland, FL offered a short drive to 38 lakes with a bevy of ducks and swans; tranquil retreats at Cypress Gardens and Bok Tower; the tasty Plant City Strawberry Festival; along with adventures to Disney and Busch Gardens with the grandchildren. Back in NY for the summer was time to catch up with family; golf; mow, brush hog and grade on his tractor; and take long drives around the scenic Adirondack Mountains. Moving to Florida’s Space Coast in 1997, Sherwood and Betty began bicycling around their local neighborhoods, going out to lunch, playing cards at night, and occasionally photographing lighthouses while meandering along Florida’s southern scenic coastline. Sherwood was the first in his family to own a digital camera. He embraced technology. His first home computer was the “Osborne 1” introduced in 1981. He spent hours developing databases and spreadsheets to track various things (including calculating handicaps for his NY golf group). He even started a computer club that met each month (right up until this past June) at their West Melbourne home where they eventually settled down as year-round residents in 2007.
In addition to his parents, Sherwood was tragically preceded in death by his 42 year old daughter, Deborah S Prohaska (Stephen) in 1995. Both of his sisters, Dorothy Yates (Burton), and Beverly Thompson (Howard) have also passed. He is survived by his loving wife of 67 years, Betty; their daughters Sue Smith of Sandy, UT, and Peggy Abt (Eric) of Satellite Beach, FL; five granddaughters: Holly Zullo (Mark Parker) of Salt Lake City, UT; Jolene Prohaska Romano (Chris) of Fort White, FL; Amber Prohaska Knepper (Tyler) of Tulsa, OK; Rachel Prohaska Miller (Joshua) of Playa Del Rey, CA; and Bonnie Abt Rupp (Jesse) of Bonner Springs, KS; and three great-grandchildren: Kira Parker, 18 years; the first BOY: Sherwood Knepper, 22 months; and Samantha Miller, 8 months young. He is also survived by his brother and dear friend, Robert Smith (Diane), plus several nieces and nephews whom he enchanted when they were young with his tales of “Arabella” and “The Crooked Mouth Family”.