Rex Alan Smith was born May 5, 1921 on the kitchen table of his parents' ranch in Bend, Meade County, South Dakota. He died at the ranch in his sleep Tuesday, October 5, 2010. Rex was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in1987 for his books Moon of Popping Trees and The Carving of Mount Rushmore. He later wrote or co-wrote three World War II books: One Last Look, Pacific Legacy, and Pacific War Stories. He was a popular lecturer who, said one acquaintance, "felt comfortable talking about almost anything." Rex graduated from Rapid City High School in 1939, then spent a year guiding at Crystal (now Bethlehem) Cave to earn money for college. He spent 1940-41 as a freshman at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He served with the Army Corps of Engineers in World War II, first helping build Ellsworth Air Force Base and then serving three years in the Pacific, working for both the Army and Navy under various ranks of assimilation and eventually becoming Third Mate of the USS Dan Kingman, an Army dredge ship. After the war, Rex married fiancée Ahda Schlemmer and the couple moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where Rex sold life insurance for over 30 years. He taught Business Law, Investments, Economics and Actuarial Science at the American College of Life Underwriters 1965-68 and lectured on economics to University of Arkansas ROTC cadets 1950-78. From 1969-73 he produced and moderated a weekly 90-minute talk show, Point Blank, on KGTO-TV. In 1975 he published his first book, Moon of Popping Trees, about the battle of Wounded Knee. But he always dreamed of returning to the ranch at Bend. In 1980 Rex married Wanda Billingslea Yoe. They moved to Bend soon afterwards, where Rex wrote his last four books, lectured widely, and spent the last 30 years of his life. The Bend ranch land he inherited was one of the great loves of his life. Rex was preceded in death by second wife Wanda Billingslea. He is survived by daughter Mary Chantry Nelson, stepdaughter Cindy Luterman of Dallas, TX, and grandchildren Arthur and Emma Nelson of Lincoln, NE.