Caldwell Peyton Smith

Caldwell P. Smith, 89, resident of Amherst, NH, died October 12, 2008 at Harborside Healthcare Center-Crestwood in Milford, NH, after a brief and sharp decline.� He was born in Waco, TX on March 21, 1919, the fifth child of the late Norman Harrison Smith and Louise Minta Morrow Smith of Waco, Texas, both descendants of original Jamestown Colony.� His mother and two sisters were members of the D.A.R.� Caldwell Smith was a veteran of WWII seeing action in North Africa, Sicily and Southern Italy as Communications Officer of the 31st Fighter Squadron in the U.S. Army Air Corps, honorably discharged in 1945 with the rank of Captain.� He attained the rank of Major in the reserves.� Mr. Smith continued Federal Service as an electronic engineer at Hanscomb Field Research Facility, Bedford, MA, in synthetic speech and intelligibility research.� He holds multi patents and has published widely in technical journals.� He simultaneously continued his lifelong interest in music begun as a teenage double bass player with the Waco Symphony Orchestra.� He played with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society in Cambridge, MA, and the swing band The Moonlighters composed of numerous Cambridge engineers.� He was the recipient of a Fulbright Travel Grant in 1954-55 to record tribal music in East Africa, assistant to the eminent ethnomusicologist, Klaus Waxmann.� His recordings and photographs of tribal musicians of Uganda, Tanganyika and Congo Pygmies are in the archives of the Welcomb Institute, London, UK, and the University of California Los Angeles.� He was for many years the recording engineer for Boston Records.��� Since retirement to Amherst for the past 15 years he has continued his interest in jewelry making and lapidary and silversmithing.� He has been actively involved with the Manchester Art Association.� Some of his photographic and three-dimensional images are currently on display in the MAA gallery on Elm Street, Manchester, NH.� Surviving family members include his wife of 58 years, Leslie (Melville) Smith of Amherst, NH; three sons, Roderick Melville Smith of Amherst, NH, Duncan Barbour Smith of Renton, WA, Russell Harrison Smith; two grandchildren, Amanda Balo and Malinda (Balo) Armstrong, both of Washington; two brothers, Tarleton Smith of Alaska and Earl Smith of California; many nieces and nephews.� Funeral services are private.�