Family donates father’s police uniform to museum

WELLINGTON — It was May 4, 1957, when Edmund Smith, a Wellington Police Officer, was shot and killed in the line of duty. On Saturday, 58 years later, his daughters donated his police uniform to the Spirit of ’76 Museum at 201 N. Main St.

KRISTIN BAUER | CHRONICLE
Wellington Police Chief Tim Barfield, Marcia Smith Crawford, Connie Smith Buckland, and Tim Rolfe, the President of the Southern Lorain County Historical Society, speak about the uniform that was donated to the Spirit of 76 Museum. Crawford and Buckland donated their father, Edmund Smith’s, uniform to the museum. Edmund Smith was killed in the line of duty on Maple St., in Wellington, on May 4, 1957.

Connie Smith Buckland was 6 years old when her father was killed. Smith’s youngest daughter, Marcia Smith Crawford, was only 3.

“I was just a very little girl. I don’t remember but a few things about my father, and so I appreciate that people haven’t forgotten. It just means a lot to me,” Crawford said.

The sisters recalled the little details that came to mind about their dad, whom they describe as an easy-going outdoorsman.

“Everyday he brought me some Beeman’s gum,” Buckland said.

“I would always listen for the door to close if he worked in the evening. There was just a special sound when the back door would close,” she said.

“One of the newspapers quoted someone saying, ‘Ed Smith was a great guy.’ I think he was. Everybody liked Ed Smith,” Crawford said.

One newspaper article echoed that sentiment. “Everybody Liked Ed Smith; He Rated as one Grand Guy,” the headline read. He was described as an avid hunter and fisherman, who always took his coffee breaks at the Wakeman Confectionery. A World War II veteran, he became a police officer in 1955 after he left the service.

He had turned 39 one day before he was killed. He had been on the Wellington police force one day short of two months.

Smith was shot and killed by Walter J. Byomin, a 40-year-old from Cleveland who was in the area trying to see an old girlfriend, Helen Bristow. When he got to Bristow’s house, an argument took place and police were called.

Ed Smith

When police arrived, Byomin left in his car, and Smith followed.

The two men got out of their cars after driving a little over a mile. Smith’s gun jammed, and Byomin shot him three times.

At the time of the shooting, if someone was convicted of killing a police officer on duty, a death sentence was mandatory. Byomin was executed in 1959.

“I don’t remember him so much as a person but I do remember the day he was killed,” Crawford said. “I remember seeing my mother cry and the neighbors all around, all the people all around.”

Their mother, Margaret Smith, was a public school teacher in New London. Her class stood on the library steps on the day of the funeral.

An estimated 300 people attended the services at Eastman Funeral Home in New London, including more than 60 police officers and law enforcement.

“It was a big thing in 1957. It was a huge funeral. They had people outside on chairs. They had speakers,” Buckland said.

Smith is one of two officers from the Wellington Police Department killed in the line of duty. The other was George Brenner, who was killed by a gunshot in 1883. Twenty officers from Lorain County have been killed while on duty.

Before being donated Saturday, Smith’s uniform hung in Buckland’s closet for decades. The navy blue uniform still has a crease down the pant legs.

“I touched it almost every single day … just to be a part of him,” Buckland said.

Buckland and Crawford agree their father’s uniform is in the right place now. It will be on display in the museum for public viewing.

“I always thought and I always prayed that he would someday get the recognition that he so deserved,” Buckland said. “And he has.”

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