Dr. Bill Stacy walked slowly toward one of the Long Branch Residential Preserve’s vast, communal lawns Tuesday afternoon.
Perched near Lookout Mountain’s crown, Long Branch was the idyllic childhood home of Kelly Bennett Smith, a private development filled with horse pastures, rustic retreats, glistening ponds, endless nature. It was also where his family and friends gathered to bid their 26-year-old “brother-son-friend-artist-lover” – as oldest brother Kyle called him – as fond a farewell as possible for someone lost far too young.
Kelly Bennett Smith“Dads get buried by sons,” Stacy said softly. “They aren’t supposed to bury sons.”
Yet after a gripping bagpipe recital, there stepped Dr. Bill Moore Smith – the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Chattanooga Lookouts team doctor, champion of revised concussion protocol, devoted husband to Chrissie and father to five sons and daughter Kadie Ann – leading his family to their seats for an event no parent ever wants to attend.
“Let’s get out there and enjoy some sunshine,” the doctor reportedly told his family before the service, and they certainly tried as they remembered Kelly, a 2008 Baylor School grad and the youngest of the brothers.