Larkin I. Smith, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetLarkin I. Smith
American politician
Date of Birth: 26-Jun-1944
Place of Birth: Poplarville, Mississippi, United States
Date of Death: 13-Aug-1989
Profession: politician
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Cancer 
About Larkin I. Smith
- Larkin Irvin Smith (June 26, 1944 – August 13, 1989) was an American Congressman from Mississippi serving for seven months until he was killed in a plane crash in Perry County, Mississippi in 1989. Smith was born in Poplarville, Mississippi to Nona Orene Bounds and her husband Hezekiah K.
- Smith, Sr.
- Smith was named after his maternal grandfather Larkin Bounds and his maternal uncle Irvin E.
- Bounds.
- He received his bachelor's degree from William Carey University and then served at various positions in the police forces in both Pearl River and then Harrison counties.
- He became the police chief in Gulfport and thereafter the Harrison County sheriff. In 1988, Smith ran for the U.S.
- House of Representatives as a Republican from Mississippi's 5th congressional district in the southern portion of the state after eight-term incumbent Trent Lott gave up the seat to make a successful run for the Senate. He defeated Democratic State Senator Gene Taylor and took office on January 3, 1989.
- However, Smith died on the night of August 13 in a plane crash in rural Perry County near Gulfport after returning from opening the Little League baseball "Dixie Youth World Series" in Hattiesburg.
- The bodies of Smith and pilot Chuck Vierling were not recovered until the next morning after a search in which rescuers had to bulldoze their way through the forest.
- Smith's death came only six days after fellow Representative Mickey Leland of Texas died in a plane crash in Ethiopia on August 7, 1989. Taylor would succeed Smith in a special election held some two months after the crash.
- Taylor was reelected every two years until 2010, when he was defeated by Republican State Representative Steven Palazzo.
- Smith's widow, Sheila Smith, ran unsuccessfully against Taylor in 1990 for the seat.
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