Nearly six months after University of Alabama student Marcus Smith died from injuries sustained in the April 27tornado, friends and acquaintances reflected on the many things they miss about him.
“He was one of those really nice guys,” said Clark Hilton, who was in the same fraternity as Smith. “Every time I saw him around campus, he would get a big smile on his face, and we would have a couple-minute conversation about what we were doing and everything.”
Hilton said that he remembers Marcus as being a friendly, outgoing and overall genuinely good guy.
The Theta Omicron chapter of the Sigma Pi fraternity, where Smith was a brother, along with Sigma Pi chapters at Auburn University and the University of West Alabama, dedicated a plaque in Smith’s honor a few weeks ago, fraternity brother Sonny Age said.
The plaque is located in one of the public rooms of the fraternity house and serves as a memorial of Smith to the fraternity.
Justin Roberson, who was a good friend of Smith and also a minister at Northwood Church of Christ, where Smith attended church, said he remembers Smith as being someone who was always genuinely happy and seeking ways to encourage other people.
Roberson attended a Bible study that was taught by Smith a few nights before the tornado hit Tuscaloosa.
“The Sunday night before the tornadoes hit, he taught a college Bible study in one of the homes of our members,” Roberson said. “That’s the last memory I have of him.”
The last time Roberson and many of Smith’s peers ever saw him, he was encouraging them to put God first, Roberson said.
“That night, he was sitting in the recliner with his Bible and notes in his lap, talking about how we should put God first in our lives,” he said. “He did an excellent job and was very encouraging. That’s how Marcus always was. He always cared about serving God.”
According to Roberson, some of Smith’s favorite hobbies were sports, school and serving God.
“Marcus really liked sports,” he said. “We used to go out on Friday afternoons to Snow Hinton Park and play football. Marcus was pretty much there every Friday.”
During church services, Roberson frequently looks back at the pew where Smith used to sit and thinks about him.
“I thought about him a few weeks ago, when church let out,” he said. “Marcus and his girlfriend would always sit in the third or fourth row from the front. Turning around and looking back and not seeing him sitting there is pretty hard. After church service, he would always be the one to have a big smile on his face and be very humble and kind. That’s probably one of the things I miss about him the most.”
As a good friend of Smith, Roberson said he misses how genuine Smith was in every aspect of his life.
“He was a very humble person,” he said. “I can’t remember one time that he ever bragged or was prideful. He always was a very humble, genuinely kind and loving person. I miss that about him.”
