CLAYTON L. SMITH: 1928-2004. A pioneer in science education in Hillsborough County, he taught from the 1950s to the early 1990s.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published August 20, 2004
FOREST HILLS - Several generations of Tampa youngsters learned a lot about life from Clayton Smith.
From the 1950s until the early 1990s, Mr. Smith taught science in the Hillsborough County school system.
Plenty of other men and women taught science during those years, but Mr. Smith was considered a leader, even a pioneer, in science education. He started the district's first biology program for gifted students and the first marine biology class. He also developed a summer marine biology program at eight local schools.
He died Aug. 9 from complications of diabetes. He was 76.
Even those who weren't in his classes learned a thing or two about science from Mr. Smith. He appeared on local shows hosted by television personality "Salty Sol" Fleischman, discussing the flora and fauna of area waters.
Mr. Smith took a circuitous route to science education. He was nearly 30 before he began teaching, and as far as his family knows, he didn't show any special interest in science until after he started teaching.
"I'd say he came to science through his love of teaching, rather than the other way around," said son Clayton Smith Jr. "I believe his college degree was in social science, so it doesn't seem like he was planning on teaching science."
Even in his youth, which he spent mostly outside Madison, Wis., Mr. Smith showed a range of athletic and academic interests. In high school, he lettered in football and forensics and was class salutatorian.
He started college in Wisconsin but interrupted his studies to enlist in the Air Force at the beginning of the Korean War. He worked in intelligence and was assigned to MacDill Air Force Base.
On the train to Florida, he met a nurse named Alma Paulet who was heading to Tampa to visit her father. Within a couple of years, he and Alma were married. Early in their marriage, they lived in Puerto Rico, where he was stationed.
After the war, the couple returned to Wisconsin, where he resumed his studies. The cold weather, however, quickly pushed them south.
"He spent one year there and said, "Enough of this,' and they moved back to Tampa," his son said. "It was totally the weather. Even when I was growing up, we never went on vacations up there in the winter, only in the summer."
The Smiths lived in South Tampa and in the 1950s moved to Forest Hills.
While working and raising a family, he earned a degree from the University of Tampa in 1957. After graduating, he landed a teaching internship at Wilson Junior High School. He took to teaching, and Wilson's administrators took to him. As soon as his internship was over, they offered him a job.
At Wilson, he became involved in science activities, including local and national science fairs. He stayed for 13 years.
He left Wilson to become one of the first seven teachers at the district's Learning Center for the Gifted, north of downtown on Tampa Street. While there, he opened the state's first marine science museum.
He spent summers working with students in the district's summer marine biology program, which he developed and ran for eight years. The program was akin to a science camp, with a series of field trips to local beaches and bays.
After 15 years at the Learning Center, he finished his career with a six-year stint at Roland Park Elementary School.
Mr. Smith devoted his career to science, education and his students. But he always had time for his wife and four children.
While many people in South Tampa remember him as a teacher, people who grew up in North Tampa are more likely to think of him as a longtime coach for the Forest Hills Little League.
"You have to be a friend to your kids, but you have to be a father first, and he struck that balance very well," his son said. "He was very nurturing, and he had a great sense of humor. You're not likely to find anyone who anything bad to say about him."
Mr. Smith is survived by his wife, Alma; three sons, Clayton Jr., Christopher and Stephan; one daughter, Kathleen Floyd; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
