Interviewed by Alice Eachus
It’s not a long haul from Gainesville to Big Canoe. Billy Smith and his wife Drenda know the road well that leads to their mountain retreat. Golf is a passion for Billy and he touts a 14 handicap.
Billy is Georgia-born and bred hailing from Albany. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1975 and went to work in the family business, the Smith Consulting Group which served Military Surplus Asset projects all over the world.
He’s been a private pilot for over 40 years, flying everything from single-engine puddle jumpers to King Airs, Lear Jets and Citations.
Finding a creative outlet in writing fiction, Billy has penned two books, “Abuse of Process” and “Flight 3911” with more in the works.
Billy and Drenda enjoy his two sons, her three daughters and six grandchildren. Life is good for this Smith family.
Here’s more about Billy…
1. What is your favorite scent and what does it remind you of? Lavender. It puts me in a peaceful and tranquil place.
2. What food do you love that most others hate? Most anything considered country, fried and unhealthy. Also fast food.
3. How would you spend your life if money was of no concern? Exactly as I am at present.
4. What sports teams do you follow? UGA Bulldogs football. Any sports my grandkids happen to be playing. Been know to make a day trip to Charleston, South Carolina to see my 5-year-old play T-ball.
5. What one word or phrase best describes you? Easy-going.
6. What terrifies you? My 8-year-old granddaughter on the balance beam.
7. If you found a $100 bill on the sidewalk, what would you do with it? I’d pay it forward and look around to see if a “Candid Camera” crew was filming.
8. What was your first car and did you name it? 1967 Mustang convertible—The Chick Magnet.
9. If you could choose, what would you like for a nickname? B.P., and I think I might have chosen it long ago to separate me from all the other common names like Billy Smith.
10. What games did you play as a kid? I played most sports, good at most and great at none of them.
11. Have you met any famous people? Who? Yes. President Jimmy Carter, Lorenzo La-mas, Beverly Taylor Bradford, Shirley Jones, Marty Ingels, Patrick and Ryan Cassidy, Dr. Ruth, Sam Donaldson, Jan Hopkins and The Baroness Laure Bodor.
12. What pickup line did you use on girls when you were a young Turk? Hi, I’m B.P. Smith.
13. What color best describes you? Why? Cobalt blue, because Drenda looks fantastic in it. Happy wife, happy husband.
14. What is your secret ambition? Being a private pilot for a globetrotting billionaire.
15. What life advice would you give to a young person? Believe in something greater than yourself.
16. What did you want to grow up to be when you were 6? Lawyer. Thank God that didn’t work out.
17. What was your best Halloween costume? Why did you like it? My Fruit of the Loom boxers. I was young on a cruise, and no one knew me.
18. What was your favorite elementary school lunch? Pizza and chocolate sheet cake squares.
19. What TV shows do you enjoy? “Jeopardy,” historical documentaries, Military Channel and Fox News.
20. What three things would you want with you if stranded on a desert island? My wife, plenty of water and plenty of food.
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