Thomas Lee Smoak Jr.

On March 20, 2026, after 80 years of a life lived with dignity, compassion, and a commanding presence, Thomas Lee Smoak Jr. was welcomed home into the loving arms of Jesus.

Born on November 21, 1945, to Thomas Lee Smoak Sr. and Nella Davis Smoak, Tommy—as he was known— developed his love of family early. His teenage years took him from the Lowcountry of South Carolina to North Carolina, where he graduated from Hunter Huss High School in Gastonia before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in June 1965—a decision that would prove life-altering in many ways.

While stationed in Washington, D.C., Tommy met a beautiful young woman also from the South, Patricia Starnes. They began dating, and on New Year’s Eve 1966, he proposed. They were married on June 17, 1967, in Duke Chapel in Durham, North Carolina .

The Vietnam War carried Tommy into the battlefields where he was gravely injured. He fought hard to survive and returned home with a Purple Heart for multiple wounds received in combat. Even then, he knew God had bigger plans for his life.

In the years that followed, Tommy and Pat built a life centered on love, faith, and service. Their children—Kathi, Chris, and Cyndy—grew up in a home where kindness and generosity were lived daily. Tommy was an ordained Deacon, taught Sunday School, built anything he and Pat could dream up, and welcomed young Marines far from home to a warm meal and laughter. Master Sergeant Smoak retired from the Marine Corps in June 1986.

As God closed one door He opened another and Tommy began a second career in large scale utilities construction, retiring after 24 years with J.O. Flowe Grading. In retirement, he and Pat traveled, cherished their grandchildren, and Tom found joy in reconnecting with his siblings. He was a man who found pleasure in life’s simplest moments—a quiet time on the deck with a glass of tea, a drive down a back road on a warm spring day, or time spent with a hammer and nails.

To know Tommy was to know a gentle man who spoke quietly and rarely, but always with meaning. His presence was a calm, quiet strength. Some called him a Silent Warrior. We simply called him Dad.

Tommy leaves behind his beloved wife of 58 years, Pat; his children, Kathi (Kevin) Withers, Chris (Neisha) Smoak, and Cyndy (Andrew) Clendenin; along with 16 grandchildren; Holly (Thomas) Lawing, Mikayla Withers, Aiden Withers, Ethan (Scarlett) Smoak, Lauralei (Wyatt) Swinney, Ceilidh Clendenin, Gracelyn Smoak, Graeme Clendenin, Lilliana Smoak, Jane Clendenin, Kinleigh Smoak, Arabella Smoak, Mary Alice Clendenin, Avery Withers, Maeve Clendenin and John Joseph Clendenin. There are 4 great-grandchildren Elizabeth Lawing, Wade Swinney, Charlotte Lawing and Wells Swinney. Together these are those who will carry forward his legacy of love, faith, and family.

Tommy taught those he loved that service to others is a life well lived, that anything worth doing is worth doing right the first time, and that no one man is better than another. To love one another, he showed us, is to love God.

Services are entrusted to Sauls Funeral Home of Bluffton, South Carolina. A visitation for family and friends will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at Gillisonville Baptist Church beginning at 2:30 p.m., followed by a celebration of Tommy’s life at 4:00 p.m. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. In honor of Tommy’s love of hanging baskets and potted plants, flowers may be sent to the funeral home. If preferred, donations may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project in Tommy’s name.