Smith, Robert Guy Carington

Robert Guy Carington Smith 1908 - 2006
Constance Isobel (Price) Smith 1908 – 1944
Jean Alexandra (McCaig) Smith 1903 - 1988

Known to most in Tadoussac as either Poppa or Uncle Guy, Robert Guy Carington Smith was born in 1908, in Quebec City, to Robert Harcourt Smith and Mary Valliere Gunn Smith. He was the third of three sons. His older brothers were Alexander (Lex) and Gordon. They enjoyed a happy childhood growing up on Grande Allée in the English area of Quebec City. In 1911 Robert Harcourt Smith purchased Dufferin House in Tadoussac, Quebec as a summer home, from Henry Dale of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. After being ceded to all three boys, Guy bought out his brothers’ stake in the house, and Dufferin remained within the family for four consecutive generations.
Like his brothers before him, Guy was educated at Bishop’s College School in Lennoxville, Quebec, and the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, from which he graduated in 1929. Guy also attended McGill University for Economics from 1929 to 1930. After his time at McGill University, Guy entered the Department of Trade and Commerce as a Junior Trade Commissioner in 1930.
“Iso” was born in 1908, in Quebec City to Henry Edward Price and Helen Muriel Gilmour. Her siblings included Helen Florence (1902), Enid Muriel (1904), Millicent Ruth (1906), William Gilmour (1910), James Cuthbert (1912), Sheila Hope (1914), Henry Edward (Ted) Clifford (1916), Llewellyn Evan (1919), and Barbara Joan (1921), all born in Quebec City.
During her young life, Iso saw the passing of her younger sister Barbara Joan at the age of three in 1924, her brother Gilmour in 1940 at the age of thirty, and Evan in 1944 at the age of twenty-five. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the family grew up close in the English section of Quebec City.
At the age of twenty-three Isobel travelled alone to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where on April 27, 1932, she married Guy Smith who was stationed in the Canadian diplomatic service. They had three children during their marriage: Valliere Ann (1933) and Susan Pamela (1935) in Buenos Aires, and Penelope Joan (1939) in Rye, New York.
In 1931 Guy was posted to Buenos Aires as the Assistant Trade Commissioner and then to New York in 1936. Guy was granted a leave of absence from 1940 to 1945 to join the Royal Canadian Artillery in the war effort. During his time of service, Guy was involved in a motorcycle accident that took him out of active service. At the time of his discharge, Guy had earned the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
Sadly, Iso passed away at the age of thirty-six in 1944, in Ottawa, Ontario. Constance Isobel Smith is buried at the Mount Hermon Cemetery in Quebec City.
Jean, Mumsie, Aunt Jean, Grannie was born in Quebec in 1903. Her parents were John and Evelyn McCaig. She had two sisters, Ruth, born in 1908, and Ester, and one brother, William John, born in 1911.
The family moved to Edmonton, Alberta in 1911. Jean trained as a stenographer and early in her adult life, she developed a love of travel. During the 1920s and 1930s, she visited Vancouver, Honolulu, San Francisco, Berkeley, South Hampton, and Brazil and settled finally in New York in the early 1940s.
She was working as a stenographer in the Canadian Consul General/Trade Commissioner’s office when she met Robert Guy Carington Smith. They were married on December 12, 1945.
In 1946, Guy was appointed to Havana, Cuba, to continue his diplomatic and trade service. From there, Guy enjoyed a robust career as a Canadian diplomat travelling to posts in many different countries including Rome, London, Paris, Washington, Tokyo, the West Indies, and finally, back to New York where he was appointed as Consul General for Canada for the states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. For the next twenty years, Jean travelled to, and lived in all of these places and became a gracious hostess for Guy as he pursued his diplomatic career.
Following his retirement, Guy and Jean moved to Brockville, Ontario where he remained highly involved in both civic and church duties. Always a dedicated subject of the Queen, Poppa faithfully corresponded using only Queen’s head stamps.
After career and family, Poppa’s main love was Dufferin House in Tadoussac. Not a summer went by without Poppa spending it in Tadoussac tending the gardens and managing the property. For a while, a main fixture of the house was the old English Taxi (“Gertrude”) that Poppa would drive around the streets of Tadoussac heading to church or a run to the local store. It was Tadoussac’s version of Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman from Driving Miss Daisy with Jean in the back waving to us all!
Robert Guy Carington Smith 1908 - 2006

Known to most in Tadoussac as either Poppa or Uncle Guy, Robert Guy Carington Smith was born on 5 January, 1908 in Quebec City, to Robert Harcourt Smith and Mary Valliere Gunn Smith. He was the third of three sons. His older brothers were Alexander (Lex) and Gordon. They enjoyed a happy childhood growing up on the Grande Allée in the English area of Quebec City. In 1911 Robert Harcourt Smith purchased Dufferin House in Tadoussac, Quebec as a summer home, from Henry Dale of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. After being ceded to all three boys, Guy bought out his brothers’ stake in the house, and Dufferin has remained within the family for four consecutive generations.
Like his brothers before him, Guy was educated at Bishop’s College School in Lennoxville, Quebec, and the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, from which he graduated in 1929. Guy also attended McGill University for Economics from 1929 - 30. After his time at McGill University, Guy entered the Department of Trade and Commerce as a Junior Trade Commissioner on June 9, 1930. In 1931 he was posted to Buenos Aires as the Assistant Trade Commissioner and then to New York in 1936. Guy was granted a leave of absence from 1940 - 45 to join the Royal Canadian Artillery in the war effort. During his time of service Guy was involved in motorcycle accident that took him out of active duty service. At the time of his discharge from service, Guy had earned the rank of Lt. Colonel.
In 1946, Guy was appointed to Havana, Cuba, to continue his diplomatic and trade service. From here, Guy enjoyed a robust career as a Canadian Diplomat traveling to posts in many different countries including: Rome, Italy; London, England; Paris, France; Washington, D.C.; Tokyo, Japan; the West Indies; and finally, back to New York where he was appointed as Consul General for Canada for the states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
During his time traveling the world, his wife (Constance Isobel Price) gave birth to their three daughters: Valliere Ann (born July 30, 1933 – Buenos Aires), Susan Pamela (born May 23, 1935 – Buenos Aires), and Penelope Joan (born May 20, 1939 – Rye, NY). Sadly, Constance Isobel died at the age of 36 in 1944.
Following his retirement, Guy and his second wife, Jean, moved to Brockville, Ontario where he remained highly involved in both civic and church duties. Always a dedicated subject of the Queen, Poppa faithfully corresponded using Queen head stamps.
After career and family, Poppa’s main love was Dufferin House in Tadoussac. Not a summer went by without Poppa spending it in Tadoussac tending the gardens and managing the property. For a while, a main fixture of the house was the old English Taxi (“Gertrude”) that Poppa would drive around the streets of Tadoussac heading to church or a run to the local store.
Guy died in Brockville on January 23, 2006, aged 98, and is buried at the Mount Hermon Cemetery in Quebec City near both wives.
CONNECTION TO OTHER TADOUSSAC FAMILIES:
1) Married a Price (Henry) family member.
2) Doris Molson was a Smith family member. Michael McCarter