The City of Smithville voted last week to honor a long-time Smithville Airport aviator and board member by naming the airport field in his name.

The field at the Smithville Municipal Airport will now be known as Wayne Hubbs Field. Hubbs was a familiar face at Smithville Airport, having served on the board, as well as helping maintain the grounds and facility. He was also a gyro pilot, flying his gyrocopter over the local skies. Hubbs passed away in July 2021.

The honor was unanimously approved by the Smithville Board of Aldermen at their regular monthly meeting on Monday, November1. The honor applies to the field at the airport, not the name of the airport itself. Much the same was Nashville International Airport has Berry Field.

Joe Johnson, a former airport manager, addressed the board and made the request on behalf of the Smithville Airport Advisory Board and Chairman Roth Terrell, who was unable to attend the meeting.

“We are not asking you to change the name of the airport. We are only asking that you name the field for Wayne Hubbs just like the field at the Nashville International Airport is named Berry Field,” Johnson told the board.

“He was the nicest person you could ever meet. He served on the airport board and was active in his church and community. He did things for a lot of people,” Johnson continued. “I was airport manager for two years and he helped me in many ways. I remember he would mow around the taxiway and runway weekly. That’s three trips around at 2.1 miles each or six miles on a lawnmower not counting the rest of the yard. When something tore up at the airport he fixed it. He helped repair planes and he worked with me on getting new t-hangars built, pulling wire and putting up doors. He worked on those hangars everyday so that people could have a place to put their airplanes. He did so much for the airport that we would like to ask the city council to name the airport field the Wayne Hubbs Field,” said Johnson.

Hubbs’ daughter, Sheryl May of Heimbuchenthal, Germany, was also on hand at the meeting and said afterwards that the naming of the field is a memorial in more ways than one. “This is my proudest moment. I know if he were here it would be his proudest moment too because that airport and the people there, like Joe Johnson and Roth Terrell, and all the others meant more to him than anything. He would do anything for anybody. You won’t hear a bad story about him,” May explained.

“My dad’s body was cremated,” May continued. “We felt that this is what he would have wanted because before his death he had just planned his friend Jim Dorroh’s funeral. Dad planned all his financial things for my sister and me to know what to do, but none of the private part such as how he would want his memorial service to be or any of those things, so I had watched what he had done for his friend and thought that must be what he wanted for himself.  So, he was cremated and his ashes were spread over the airport that he loved. He has no marker anywhere so the airport field being named after him is his marker and that is where my heart will be.”