His father, a police officer, and his mother, a nurse, had four other children: George, Ben, Leo and Rosemary. Greg was the middle child. The family lived on Tenth Street until the boy was 8 or 9 years old, when they moved to Marion Street.

The young boy and his siblings walked about a mile and three-quarters from their southside Jamestown home to S.S. Peter and Paul School, which was located at Washington and Fifth streets at that time. When Smith thinks about his childhood he recalls the activities in which he participated with his family and neighborhood friends.

“We played sandlot sports,” he said, “and I loved my dogs. I had a .22 rifle and liked to go down to the woods and I would shoot at anything that moved.”

When he was 14, he began caddying with his brother at Moonbrook Country Club. He gave his mother half of his earnings and bought shells for his rifle with the other half.

Greg Smith is pictured in 1939 as a 20-year-old. Submitted photo

He graduated in 1937 from Jamestown High School, after which he started a six-year printing apprenticeship at the Morning Post on Washington Street. However, the apprenticeship was interrupted four years later when he was drafted in April 1941. He served in the Pacific in the United States Army with the 80th Quartermaster during WWII.

“We were a depot supply company,” said the 101-year-old man. “We handled everything but ammunition.”

Sadly, his brother, Ben, was killed in action at Normandy in 1944.

Greg Smith was honorably discharged in November 1945 after four years of service to his country. He returned to the Morning Post where he was allowed to complete the last two years of his apprenticeship. It was during his regular commutes back and forth on a Jamestown city bus where he began to notice a young nurse who was traveling to her job at WCA Hospital. He admits it took several weeks before he had the nerve to talk to Peggy Giltinan. Not only did he muster up the courage to speak to her in February of 1947, but things moved along very quickly with the couple becoming engaged in May of the same year. They became Mr. and Mrs. Smith on September 20, 1947.

In the early years, the couple rode their bikes to the park to view the sunsets.

Pictured are Greg Smith, 100 years old, and his 1-year-old great-grandson, Merricks Conway, born of whom were born during worldwidepandemics. Submitted photo

He continued working at the Morning Post until there was a strike, after which he took a job 30 minutes from home, at the Randolph Register. During the drive from his home at 74 Adams St., he felt the need to have something for entertainment. Since his wife used the vehicle that had a radio, he would either have to buy a radio for his “old clunker” or come up with another solution. He decided to learn to play the harmonica during the 30-minute drive and is still playing nearly 70 years later.

“It takes up a lot of my time,” he said. “I play my harmonica to take my mind off things.”

Smith made two trips to Michigan for his friend, Christopher “Crippy” Borten’s uncle, who owned a Hudson automobile dealership. He, along with four other guys, were driven to Detroit and then each one drove a new Hudson back to Jamestown.

“I only did this twice,” he said, “It was really kind of harrowing. They left you out in the middle of Detroit and said ‘OK, now go back.’ I didn’t know where I was. We just had to find our way back.”

He left the newspaper business for a few years while working at the Chadakoin Press, a printing business. Even though the family had numerous ties to Chautauqua County, they made the decision to pack up and relocate to the Rochester area in December 1959, where the printer found work at the Democrat and Chronicle, a morning newspaper. As soon as he had enough seniority and a day job became available, he moved to the D and C’s sister paper, the Times-Union, which was an afternoon paper.

He retired in 1983 from the Times Union, after spending his entire career in printing. He and Peggy traveled around the U.S. and to England, France and Ireland. He enjoys, gardening, listening to jazz and played golf until about two years ago.

He played at 22 courses during the years he was part of a senior citizens golfing group, has shot a hole in one and shot a 93 when he was 93 years old.

“Dad is a wonderful woodworker,” says his oldest daughter, Marsha Smith.

He did a lot of volunteer work with Monroe Developmental Center where he repaired broken furniture and designed and made disks to help the staff turn patients.

“They were so grateful,” he says.

Regarding his siblings, George became a truck driver, Leo went on to be a dentist and his only sister, Rosemary, became a farmwife after marrying Les Andrews in Randolph. Greg is the only surviving child. He lost his beloved wife on Nov. 12, 2020, after 73 years of marriage. The couple has four children: Marsha Smith, Eileen Balaji, Ben Smith and Mary Stubler; nine grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

A great-grandson, Merricks Conway, was born on Oct. 11, 2020. The 4 1/2 month old and his great-grandfather have their births during a pandemic in common. The family hopes this will be the only pandemic the child sees, unlike his great-grandfather.

Greg still lives in his home in Fairport, N.Y., where he cherishes many memories of Peggy, which include her wonderful baked goods, the special picnics she planned, bicycling, walking, snowshoeing and the trips they took together. He still has the treasured rifle from his youth.

“I’ve enjoyed my life. I think I’m very lucky.”