Edward Stewart Smither, Jr., 48, died November 13, 2004.  He loved Lakeland High School, and Lakeland High School loved him. He will be greatly missed by the faculty and student body of Lakeland High School.

Mr. Smither was the Activities Director and a teacher at Lakeland High School. He was former football coach at Lakeland and Forest Glen High Schools.  He has been a faculty member at Lakeland High School  since Lakeland opened in 1990-91.  Previously he taught and coached at Forest Glen High School. He was Southside Sting Girls Fast Pitch Softball Coach. He was a member of Holy Neck Christian Church and the Virginia High School League Coaches Association.
 

On November 16, family, friends, former students, and the Lakeland High School Family gathered together in the Lakeland High School Stadium  to celebrate the life of Edward Smither.  It was fitting that we gathered in a place that Coach Smither  so lovingly cared for.  We did not say good-bye forever, for Coach Smither lives on in our hearts and memories.   We gathered to remember  the ways in which he touched so many lives.  We gathered to celebrate his courage, his dedication, and his love for his family, friends, students, and  Lakeland High School.  We gathered to say as surely God said to him on November 13, 2004, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." We did not really gather to say good-bye at all, but rather to say, "See you later, Coach."  And we will-- each time we look into the eyes of the students  he taught and coached,  each time we remember the lives that he changed for the better, each time we remember how much he loved his family, and each time we look out over the grass that grows on the fields of Lakeland--we will see Coach Smither again.

Memorial donations may be made to the Lakeland High School Athletic Boosters in care of Lakeland High School, 214 Kenyon Rd., Suffolk, Va. 23434.