James Grieve Smith, a retired Harford County educator and coach who was also a highly decorated World War II veteran, died Jan. 1 at Citizens Care Center in Havre de Grace.
The longtime Churchville resident was 85.
Mr. Smith, the son of English and Scottish immigrant parents who were estate caretakers, was born in Camden, N.J., and raised in Rosemont, Pa.
After graduating from Radnor High School in Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Army. He served in Europe with the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
"He was a staff sergeant by the time he was 19," said his wife of 59 years, the former Elizabeth Anna Mischkulnig, a retired Harford County educator.
Mr. Smith, who fought at the Battle of the Bulge, where he was wounded, was decorated with the Purple Heart and several Bronze Stars.
In 1998, then-Kansas Sen. Robert J. Dole presented Mr. Smith with a Silver Star for "gallantry in action."
"He had carried a wounded man in his unit, John Erdman, to safety," Mrs. Smith said.
He earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1950 from Temple University and subsequently earned a master's degree in education from West Virginia University.
In 1950 Mr. Smith moved to Harford County and began his career with county public schools. He taught physical education and coached basketball and football at North Harford High School and Aberdeen High School until 1970.
During the early 1970s, he was appointed vice principal at Edgewood Middle School and, at the time of his retirement, was supervisor of transportation.
"He was a man who just loved kids and as a coach he believed in the 'Smith Way,' which was leading by example," Mrs. Smith said.
After retiring, he served as head of the Harford County Department of Recreation and Parks for several years and later was part-owner and manager of Chesapeake Racquetball Club in Aberdeen.
He also worked for a time at Jones Junction selling and delivering new automobiles.
Mr. Smith was an active member of the Harford County Adopt-A-Road program and for a decade was responsible for maintaining and picking up trash from Cool Branch Road near his Churchville home.
He was an avid gardener and birdwatcher.
Mr. Smith was a communicant of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Churchville, where he enjoyed singing with the choir.
Services were Friday at his church.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Smith is survived by a son, James G. Smith Jr. of Abingdon; two daughters, Allyn Ann Watson of Churchville and Susan Smith Hopkins of Darlington; a brother, Alan H. Smith of West Chester, Pa.; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.