Books By Charles Ray Smith - Author

Charles R. Smith was born in Tyler, Texas, in 1956. He attended Mamie G. Griffin Elementary School, Boulter Jr. High, and John Tyler High School. He grew up on a farm and left home at seventeen. He moved in with relatives living in Los Angeles, California, in Jordan Downs. He attended Lock High on San Pedro Avenue. He worked part time at the medical center on 103rd and Grape Street, in the gift shop, to pay rent to his relatives and cover high school education expenses. In 1973, he volunteered for duty in the US Navy, while still seventeen, to serve on the USS Midway CVA 41 (aircraft carrier) in the Tonkin Gulf during the rescue mission out of Vietnam. He graduated from Nile C. Kinnick High School in Yokosuka, Japan, in 1974. After military service, he returned to Tyler, Texas, and entered Tyler Jr. College, and used his GI Bill funds to complete college and graduated as a member of the national honor society ("Who's Who") in 1977. Thereafter, he transferred to Texas A&M University at College Station while st