Smith honored as Main Street Hero

Though he may be gone, longtime Grundy Center resident Richard Smith’s legacy lives on through the countless contributions to community development he and his wife Barb have made throughout Grundy Center.
 
During the Main Street Iowa awards ceremony held in Des Moines on Friday, Richard’s work was recognized when he was honored as a Main Street Hero; an award from Main Street Iowa that recognizes an individual posthumously for having been an outstanding volunteer and visionary for community development.
 
Describing him as a visionary, and someone who saw the needs of town before others knew there was one, Barb said Richard was like a dog with a bone; when he got an idea in his head, he wouldn’t let go of it until he had worked out every detail and made it happen.
 
“He was quite the visionary, and had more ideas than he could implement,” Barb said. “He was willing to take risks and make commitments to the community no matter what other people thought. With a lot of his ideas, people thought he was crazy and that they would never work, but he never that let stop him.”
 
After his time in the service and after graduating from college, Richard operated the local pharmacy and drugstore - Manly Drug - for many years, all the while dreaming about his next big idea for the community.
 
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