Close friends remember the late Bob “Cowboy” Smith as wise and tuned-in industry advocate

Known in the industry as “Cowboy” for his Western-style dress and personality, Robert “Bob” Lee Smith, 82, has passed away.

Gary Wano, owner of GW and Son Auto Body in Oklahoma and past Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) chairman, remembers Smith as not only a strong voice for the industry, but also a respectful and upstanding one.

“There was nothing about him that was not a cowboy,” Wano said. “Cowboy didn’t really follow a path that everybody wanted to take. Cowboy was somebody to go out and find his own path. Cowboy followed what was right. It didn’t matter which side of the fence you were on. It didn’t matter what part of the industry you came from… He just felt like that if it rang true and whatever wasn’t right, then that’s where Cowboy was.”

He added that before Smith spoke on a subject or any issue, he always researched it first.

“He did what he could to get the most information he could before he passed any kind of judgment,” Wano said. “I think we all could learn something from that. If we just did it in a manner too that was not overbearing… Cowboy was about the right thing to do.”

Smith and his wife, Margo, were inducted into the Hall of Eagles in 2002 for their contributions to the industry. Wano was later introduced by the Smiths when he received his own set of wings in 2018.

Bob Smith recalled how he and Wano were known for their “cowboy and Indian show” as co-chairs of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) Anti-Fraud Committee, according to a previous Repairer Driven News article. The two men’s preparation involved having breakfast together to discuss their CIC session, going over the presentation next to a computer, “and ad libbing it from there.”

Smith called it an “even greater honor” than his own induction to present the award to “my very close friend … and industry co-conspirator.”

Wano told RDN his induction experience was made all the more special by Smith.

Jeanne Silver, retired shop owner and another close friend, fondly recalled what she called “Bobisms” — small yet profound words of wisdom from the late vehicle appraiser and business owner.

“The thing that I loved the most about Bob was that he spoke his mind extraordinarily in an amusing but also very intellectual way,” Silver said. “He’s one of the smartest people I knew.”

A “Bobism” that came to Silver’s mind was one Smith spoke during a CIC meeting: “You don’t need to know that there’s a snake there when you see the grass moving.”

“It was just one of those things that caught everybody,” she said.

Smith was laid to rest on Monday in Odessa, Missouri. Family, friends, and former colleagues laid Smith to rest after a procession that included his last ride in a drag racing trailer, rather than a hearse, wearing jeans and a racing shirt.

A lifelong drag racing enthusiast, Smith owned one of the 50 Super 69 Stock AMXs built by Bill Rodekopf Motors and ran a fuel dragster with Ron Martin, according to his obituary.

“His mechanical skill extended to building motors for pulling trucks and tractors,” the obituary states. “When he wasn’t around engines, Bob enjoyed fishing and treasured the time he spent playing golf with his daughter, whom he loved deeply.”

Silver said she, Smith, and Wano were part of a group called “The Five,” each of whom had a lapel pin with the number five.

“We told Margo about that, so she’s going to pin it on his shirt collar, along with his eagle, his SCRS pin, and his CIC pin,” Silver said before Smith’s funeral service on Monday.

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Featured image: Margo Smith, Gary Wano, and Bob Smith in 2018 when Wano was inducted into the Hall of Eagles. (Credit: Jeanne Silver)