ALERT backer left life-saving legacy

Civic leader Clyde Smith, 82, also co-founded logging association

Clyde Smith, 82, left a life-saving legacy when he passed away Wednesday in Kalispell.

Co-founder and past president of the Montana Logging Association, Smith was remembered Friday as ?Mr. ALERT? by Dr. Jack Davis, a former medical director of the emergency helicopter service.

Davis said that Smith, a past president of the ALERT foundation board, played an instrumental role in obtaining the first helicopter in 1980.

?If it wasn?t for him, there wouldn?t be a program,? Davis said. ?Clyde and his family stepped up and backed the loan with the equity in their logging business.?

Smith holds an equally revered position within the logging industry, according to Keith Olson, executive director of the Montana Logging Association. Olson was hired by Smith in 1980.

?Throughout my time at MLA, Clyde was a friend and a mentor and an inspiration in so many ways,? he said. ?He was an incredibly astute businessman and a good and successful logger.?

Born in Littlefork, Minn., in 1926, Smith grew up in the small town, graduating from high school there in 1944. He then joined the Navy and worked in aviation ordnance.

Smith began his logging career in 1948 while also attending diesel school from 1948 to 1949. He married Bonnie Briggs in 1951 and the couple raised four children.

Arriving in Montana in 1953, Smith continued working in logging, starting his own company in 1964. He helped found the Montana Logging Association in 1976.

Smith was elected president in 1980 and was named logger of the year that same year. He served as president for the next five years. It was a crucial time for the young advocacy association, according to Olson.

?He was instrumental in overseeing the rough early years,? Olson said. ?He recognized the value of being politically active.?

Smith threw his hat in the political arena in 1983 when he was elected to the Montana House of Representatives where he served until 1990. He used his expertise, serving on several committees including natural resources, business and labor, highways and state administration.

He also accepted appointments to several advisory councils to the governor, including those advising on natural resources, worker?s compensation and the State Compensation Mutual Insurance Fund.

SMITH HAD a natural talent in the public arena.

?He had a real sense of how to get things done politically,? he said.

Former Gov. Stan Stephens agrees with that assessment. Stephens first worked with Smith as a Republican senator when Smith was a Republican member of the House. He said they worked together on a number of issues.

?He was a good solid businessman and he knew the natural resources industry from top to bottom,? Stephens said. ?If you asked Clyde Smith to do something, and he thought it was good for the community, he was quick to do it.?

Olson also spoke about Smith?s deep commitment to the community as evidenced by his selfless efforts for ALERT.

?That speaks volumes about his character,? Olson said.

First established in 1975, ALERT was the second hospital-based air ambulance service and the first established in a rural area.

?We started out with a leased helicopter,? Davis said, who served as the ambulance?s medical director for 17 years.

In short order, the extremely high cost of a staffing the 24-hour service put a huge strain on the hospital. To search for solutions, a community board formed to raise money to save the helicopter ambulance.

Smith was a critical player on that board, which later became the foundation.

In ?Flying High,? a history of ALERT, Ruth Barber described how Smith?s son, Rick, was badly injured in a remote area of Pleasant Valley in the era of slow, overland rescue before the helicopter. Smith was determined not to lose the vital service to the community.

He and several others worked tirelessly to show the community the importance of the air ambulance. In 1979, they held the first ALERT banquet, generating $38,000 to help reduce the debt of running the service.

By 1980, the cost of the leased helicopter had increased to the point that the board decided to pursue buying its own Bell Jet Ranger.

Davis recalled that the hospital was too stretched financially with building a new facility to underwrite a loan to buy a new helicopter. That?s when Smith and his sons decided to put their business on the line.

?It allowed us to buy the first helicopter,? Davis said.

IN GRATITUDE, the ALERT foundation established the annual Clyde Smith Award, which recognizes people who go beyond the call of duty in service to the air-ambulance cause.

Since its establishment, ALERT has been credited for saving hundreds of lives, including Davis? own son, who was critically injured 20 years ago in an automobile accident. Davis said another board member had a grandchild saved after a near-drowning accident.

Even the late Malcolm Forbes owed his life to ALERT after he had a motorcycle crash near Logan Pass one summer.

?You never know when it?s going to happen,? Davis said. ?And Clyde Smith was one of the people most singularly responsible for ALERT.?

Davis called him an incredible guy, the epitome of ?speak softly and carry a big stick.? Olson added that Smith had a great sense of humor.

?He was rotten to the core when it came to practical jokes,? he said with a laugh.

Each of his friends remembered a man who was gentle and caring, yet hard-working and extremely effective in many realms of life. Jim Oliverson, spokesman for Kalispell Regional Medical Center, said Smith was one of a kind.

?He was just a special person ? he was hard to say no to,? Oliverson said. ?If you didn?t know a guy like him, your life would be a little less rich.?

The family requests memorials to the ALERT Endowment in care of the Northwest Healthcare Foundation, 310 Sunnyview Lane, Kalispell, MT 59901.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com