Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

Today, at the library I thought heavily about how much time had passed since I last reflected about Embree and events that involved family. My attention this morning was on a large framed water color picture that was gifted by Embree's youngest son Jack William Smith and his bride, Elizabeth "Betty" Finley. They had all joined up in Garden Grove after Pearl. The Artist is well known in Washington, where Betty's family was settled. It features a deer peeking through some light brush of leaves. Very nicely done, It was always given a little kiss by either of Embree's sons when ever they passed by.
Grandma always had it displayed above a bureau in the dinning room before any of us knew its story or the breath of the connection.
It's good to reflect back, it certainly has kept our family closer together.

Kathleen Smith
Granddaughter of Embree

March 26, 2019

Thank you for your service i hope they found who did this

Claudia
jhfff

December 8, 2017

December 7th, 2016 marks the 75th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Both of Embree's sons survived that day. Looking through the pictures and reflecting on the stories told to us... It truely was a day that will live in infamy~ My father would have been 100 years old on this Anniversary. His brother 97. Sadly both now are gone but still fondly remembered in our
hearts and prayers~It seems like yesterday. So much love and laughter still shared within the family of all those times...
Nothing has been forgotten. The same for Embree, always in our hearts, minds, and prayers.

Kathleen
Granddaughter

December 22, 2016

James E. Smith, Father of Detective Sgt. Caleb Embree Smith was gifted on his 33rd birthday in 1893 a picture of a ripe watermelon cut open next to a knife. A local Flint artist painted it on canvas. It is mounted in an ornate frame of wood & sculpted plaster painted gold.
Embree was born in 1893. He had seen this picture his whole life. His children had enjoyed this picture in the
dinning room of their grandmother and later in Embree's brother's home. Embree's sons both made trips to Flint with their children in tow during summer visits. We all know this painting. I was gifted with it by my father, Richard Embree Smith Sr. It has been in our family 126 years! James E. and Det. Sgt.Caleb Embree's life moments are still shared with love, humor, and respect.

Kathleen Smith
Granddaughter

June 29, 2016

Hello Grandpa ........I love you and miss you very much.
Wish you could be here and see all the changes in the family today......Love your grandson Rick

Richard Embree Smith Jr.
Grandson

March 28, 2014

I went to the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell
and visited Embree's eldest son, my father,
Richard Embree Smith on December 7th.
That day marked 72 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The area my father was laid to rest was new 11 years ago.
With each year I've seen many rows fill. This year was like
a sea of white stones. To tell where he was when I was
finished I placed a velcro dot on his stone and placed
a little red cardinal. When I got back to my car,
I looked back... In that sea of white stones was my Dad.
The visual impact... Ended up crying most the way home.

What is remarkable is my father never forgot details
of Pearl Harbor he experienced on December 7, 1941.

Same can be said of his remembrances of Embree,
his death, services, and the burial at Avondale.
There were times he rode his bike as he got older
to see his Dad's grave site. Then as an adult, a father,
a grandfather... He felt all the pain and frustration
that whoever killed his Dad would never be caught.
He loved his Dad so much and missed him terribly.
He wanted us to know everything he knew of him.
I know the depth of love he felt for his father,
it never diminished. Time never softened the loss.

72 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor...
It continues to be Remembered, Honored, & Shared.

-

Kathleen
Granddaughter

January 10, 2014

Your heroism and service is honored today, the 93rd anniversary year of your death. Your memory lives and you continue to inspire. Thank you for your service. My cherished son Larry Lasater was a fellow police officer murdered in the line of duty on April 24, 2005 while serving as a Pittsburg, CA police officer.

Your sacrifice was made so many years ago. Evil was, is, and will be a part of life just as goodness such as yours will also be present. Rest In Peace.

Thanks to your family for sharing their treasure trove of your family history.

Phyllis Lasater Loya
mom of fallen officer Larry Lasater

January 9, 2014

Tis the season... digging in boxes for unique
little ornaments so carefully packed away.
This year I have decided to go with a small tree
because I can sense my cats are plotting...

Embree & Marguerite had a pet dog named Ring.
A medium sized dog with long hair. He usually
hung outside waiting for Embree or the boys
so he could chase sticks and follow them
around the neighborhood. If the kids got a cone,
Ring would get one too. The kids route of
playing always assured Ring of treats.
As the kids grew up Marguerite was living
for a spell in Detroit. When she returned
for a visit with the boys she spotted Ring.
He was still on the side of the house as if
waiting for Embree or the boys. Viola,
Embree's mother told of how everyday
he'd spend long periods on their porch.
A picture was taken that day of
Marguerite with her long hair cut,
stroking Ring and smiling up at the
camera. That picture was in her candy box.
It was another one of those gems Grandma
shared with us while growing up.

-Kathleen

December 3, 2013

2013 has been a very good year to look
back on Embree's life and say thank you
to everyone who has been a part of him
being remembered and honored on the
Law Enforcement Memorial Wall in
Washington D.C..

The respect and reverence gave by
these officers for our grandfather is
wonderful and deeply appreciated.
Our knowledge of Embree is enriched
by your efforts over these years.

Thank you for listening & sharing
his story.

Thank you for taking a moment
of silence with him from time to time.

Those moments shared are precious
to a family that have witnessed through
his eldest son the grief felt that
early morning in 1921.

Kathleen
Granddaughter

October 28, 2013

On this day, 86 years ago, you were taken
from your family, community, and all that
you knew in growing up in Flint in 1921.

Being 28 years old, a Detective Sergeant
on the Flint Police Department. There was
immense pride of this accomplishment
by your parents.

To know more about you I feel blessed
that your eldest son remembered almost
every step you took holding the bridle
to a small pony he sat on. Those little
moments we rarely think are important
in our daily life become huge and
important to a 5 year old child
to remember.

The 5 year old boy was my father,
Richard Embree Smith. We were
blessed with many of his stories of
growing up in the neighborhood
with his parents and grandparents.

Of late I started looking beyond
life at home and the community Embree
grew up in. The papers back in the day
reported many of the arrests made by
Officer Embree Smith. To read the various
accounts, partners he worked with...
It makes it important to me to remember~

Kathleen
-Granddaughter

October 28, 2013

I am having a wonderful journey following
my grandfather Embree through historical
archived newspaper articals.

I know from these...
Embree & and sister Agnes
were always on time for school.

News in Brief, Social, Arrests made...
I was able to read telling of events,
found advertizing, classifieds
and world events.

Embree's passing and investigation
went beyond what had been saved
in the news articals kept by family.

I thought it was pretty cool to come across
a classified ad of a motorcycle for sale...
Matt Hauer's Indian motorcycle!

Matt and Embree worked many cases
together and apart.

Kathleen Smith
Granddaughter

June 29, 2013

I had a childhood that use to have city parades that
featured big noisey fire trucks, police in uniform w/hats,
and white gloves. They had school bands as well as
military units, and flags everywhere!

My brother one year was on a kid leash stretched out
in a wide city street as far as he could and was on a
45* angle held by our Mom. They were on the front
page of major paper the next day!

Each year we looked forward to the Police Picnic
with our dad. It was a full day of games, swimming,
and Bar-B-Q with our cousins and Aunt.

By this time it was in the early 1960's. Embree's
youngest son Jack had passed away from cancer,
and my parents divorced.
It was a time of so many changes.

No longer did they hold the parades as they did before.
Campus protests, Vietnam, a separation of community
and police. I saw a flyer color page of a wild boar with
tusks and baton in hand chasing children...
It was an invite to a church pancake breakfast.

When the Police Picnic's were stopped, I realized
how vulnerable my father was when he went to work
during those years. On our visits, we often went
to places in town and I experienced how people
were always happy to see him. A laugh or a joke,
sometimes a thank you for a tense situation
he helped resolve. Those times left me with
a great sense of pride for my Father & Uncle,
and a better understanding why they followed
their father into law enforcement.

For as young as they were when their father died,
Embree's services were never forgotten.

His name placed on the National Law Enforcement
Officers Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.
on May 13, 2013 will not be forgotten.

CALEB E SMITH

Kathleen
Granddaughter

May 26, 2013

God bless you Grandpa......Miss you more than words can express.....with love....Richard Embree Smith Jr.

grandson Rick
Grand Son

May 15, 2013

On Valentine's Day 2013, Embree became a great great
grandfather of an 8 lb. 4oz. boy!

When Embree's first child was born in 1916,
he weighed 11 lbs. I have a large oval portrait
of Embree's son in a chair, bundled in a knitted
outfit with a matching cap. The original of this
picture is with my sister.
It's exciting to know Embree had seen
this wonderful picture and my grandma
kept it safe and displayed for decades
in the original frame in the dinning room.

Kathleen Smith
Granddaughter

March 19, 2013

Friends of the Flint Police is excited that Det. Smith will finally be included to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C. in May 2013. Thanks to the wonderful officers and dedication of the Flint Police making this happen!

Sara Flore
Friends of the Flint Police

February 24, 2013

Our grandfather, Detective Sgt. Caleb Embree Smith
has been approved for inclusion to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.
His name will be formally dedicated on May 13th
at the 25th Annual Candlelight Vigil during
National Police Week.

We are very grateful of the Flint Police Department
for their efforts in submitting our grandfather
for inclusion on the memorial wall in
Washington D.C.

It is certainly an honor to share with everyone
Embree's life. Thank you

Kathleen Smith

February 19, 2013

My sister recently sent me a picture of our grandfather,
Caleb "Embree" Smith in full uniform with his three year
old son in hand (our father) with another man she didn't
know. I was quickly able to identify this person as
Ted Anderson in WWI uniform attire. He is Embree's
widowed brother in law. Embree and Ted are smiling,
the ground has traces of snow.

Ted played professional and city league baseball
for the City of Flint. Years later he remarried.
But in those early years, he renovated Embree's
parents home and stayed in touch with the Smith
family after his wife & Embree's passing.
Ted became a postman for the City of Flint
and eventually retired to Florida.

Our family still has the visitor and flower registrys
for services from long ago...

This man demonstated his love and remembrance
for not only his wife, but for Embree, and later as
the years passed... Embree's parents.

What a great moment captured, both smiling
on a cold day in 1919~

-Kathleen
Granddaughter

January 27, 2012

Caleb "Embree" Smith married Agnes "Margeruite" Williams
on December 10, 1914 Genesee County, Michigan.

Kathleen
Granddaughter

December 14, 2011

December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor

On this day, seventy years ago, Embree's two sons
experienced the horrors of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Richard Embree Smith was on the U.S.S. Tennessee.
Jack William Smith was on the U.S.S. California.

Both survived the attack and found each other
in all the chaos without telephones, cell phones,
or any kind of electronic mapping...

For the thousands of military and civilian people,
my father and uncle found each other!
I am still amazed... Thankful... Proud,
and feel eternally blessed~

Kathleen
Granddaughter

December 7, 2011

Countdown to Christmas! The tree is up, decorated,
full of memories inspiring some awesome holiday cooking~
Grandpa Embree would have loved how Grandma's Sunday
dinners and Holiday cooking became the some of the best meals anyone can recall. Her cakes, cookies, and pies... From scratch always topped off the most tender, flavorful meals I have ever experienced. I was fortunate to watch and help when old enough create some of her cookies.
A pinch of this, a spoon of that, certain brands of spices,
and flour~ All her treasured recipes written in a green WWll ledger book given her by her son, Richard Embree Smith. Grandma made a big blackstrap molasses cookie that was soft w/ a buttercream frosting that was perfection.
Embree would have been so spoiled. There were years Grandma baked as many as 13 kinds of cookies and boxed them for their two son's families. What we didn't know
was there was a third box...

One year while visiting, my brother "found" a box of cookies in the garage... All layered in tissue and waxed paper.

Of course being the oldest, we were set up to "discover"
the cookies, and we did, and we tasted, and all three of
us kept going back all afternoon.... Nibble, nibble, nibbling
Just before dinner, dad came in from work, and we shared with him what we found... Dad nibbled, we nibbled,
and everybody nibbled... And we didn't eat much dinner.
Later we heard a OH NOOooooo! Poor Grandma realized her 3rd cookie box was raided. We all fessed up~
It was the only time in my life I can recall eating as many different kinds of magnificent cookies.

Kathleen
Granddaughter

December 6, 2011

hey great grandpa !!!

Thought you might like to know , I recently made the deans list ! I guess its in the blood !!! (CRIMINAL JUSTICE) CARRINGTON COLLEGE CALIFORNIA !!!

great grandson
family

October 9, 2011

I took a walk in the woods that bordered a small lake
in Columbiaville one year while visiting my father
after he had retired. I shared with him the beauty I saw
in the fall colors that were so vibrate. He told me about all the times he had in growing up, sleding and tredging
in snow, seeing all the fall color changes, visiting different relatives and friends around Flint, Potter's Lake, Holly, and Otisville. We sat on a small dock and
he shared a memory about how his parents met at a dance...
How it was retold to him by different relatives on both
sides of the family. His Grandmother shared her memories
of them courting. I shared that memory about the dance
with my Grandmother when I got home from my trip.
She lit up and talked about how that night went so
long ago. It was so easy to see how all these memories
of my father's would bring him back to Michigan after
he retired. We spent much of my visit revisiting
places and people that were very special to him over
the years. Now watching the leaves changing colors,
the apples & pumpkins beginning to hit the markets...
It brings those times with my Dad back and the
memories family shared with him about his father, Embree.

Kathleen
Granddaughter

October 31, 2010

Panoramic View

In my livingroom I have a panoramic view taken
in front of (I assume) the Flint Police Department.
Police Chief Cole, with his white hat, and about
38 officers are in a straight line for this photo
in front of a building that is heavily covered
with ivy. There is also a woman officer on the
force in this picture. Professionally done,
it's clarity and scope draws attention.

The photo has been passed down now 3 generations.

On the glass above Embree's image in the line
is a small black check placed by my father
as his eyes began to fail him with age~
I have never removed that check.

Interesting how people lives and memories
trickle down thru time still touching peoples hearts.

Anonymous

February 6, 2010

Sixty eight years ago today,both of your sons were at Pearl Harbor. Your eldest son, Richard Embree Smith was on the U.S.S. Tennessee. Only 25 years old at the time, he recalled years later the events starting nearly 24 hours before... Of how the order of the ships docking had changed and put his ship between Ford Island and the West Virginia,
right behind the Arizona. In the days before, the Tennessee had enjoyed the very spot now that is home to the Arizona Memorial... Apparently its location allowed a gentle breeze through the ship. Your eldest was 10 days from getting out of the service. Your youngest son, Jack, was 22 years old and on the U.S.S. California. Jack's ship rolled on its side from hits taken. When it was righted later, Jack recovered items from his charred locker. Richard's ship had the Arizona's inferno in front, the shrapnel from bombs that hit the West Virginia, the heavy smoke, flames, and oil fires in the water. Engines were used to push the fire away and its decks provided an escape route for crew from surrounding ships to Ford Island. Your sons survived that day, even finding each other. Richard re-inlisted 14 days after Pearl Harbor. Their telegrams sent to family to ease their fears caused their mother to question why she was in Michigan when her sons were part of the Pacific Fleet. Too far to be of help. She packed up and went to Garden Grove, California. There she raised turkeys, gardened, and used her ration stamps to provide some of the best meals recalled by both men. Pictures of those days we reflect on today and give thanks they both survived.

Kathleen
Granddaughter

December 7, 2009

That's my grandfather....
All my life I've listened to all the police stores passed
down over the years by my grandmother and my grandfathers
brother George Smith, my Fathers uncle......
Thank you Flint police dept. for honoring my Grandfather.
Richard Embree Smith Jr.

Richard Embree Smith Jr.
Grandson

July 16, 2009