‘Wade had his own style’: Community remembers Halifax principal who died after cancer battle

The community is coming together to remember a principal who died last week after a battle with stomach cancer.

Smith, a well-known advocate for the African Nova Scotia community and a popular basketball coach, died Friday night at the age of 50.

After news broke of his death, Citadel High Students Council put out a tweet asking students to wear black or Citadel clothing on Monday to show their respect and support for the principal and his family.

Students who spoke with Global News said teachers held a ceremony Monday morning to remember Smith, and following this some students spent time in the Spatz Theatre talking about the principal.

“He was a really good principal, he worked hard and I never actually knew he had cancer, some people knew but it didn’t bother him, he just kept going,” said Hani Eldlk.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "He was a really good principal, he worked hard and I never actually knew he had cancer, some people knew but it didn't bother him, he just kept going," said Hani Eldlk.

Other students called Smith lovable.

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Smith was head coach for the Canada Games U-17 basketball team and also used to play for St. Francis Xavier University.

Karen Hudson, president of the Black Educators Association, said she worked alongside Smith for many years both as a fellow principal in Halifax and as part of the association.

She said he was a person who held many roles.

“He was an educator, a friend, a teacher, a person who had so much versatility, he loved life, he loved his students and he loved talking about what difference we can make within educators within the education system,” Hudson said. “[He] just had a thirst for knowledge and also a thirst to know.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "He was an educator, a friend, a teacher, a person who had so much versatility, he loved life, he loved his students and he loved talking about what difference we can make within educators within the education system," Hudson said. "[He] just had a thirst for knowledge and also a thirst to know."

Tributes have poured in for Smith since word of his death was made public, with people posting condolences and messages of support for his family on both Facebook and Twitter.

The tributes are reflective of who Smith was as a person, according to Shawn Mantley, a close friend and fellow coach.

“Wade would give you the shirt off his back if he had too, he was someone you aspired to be,” he said.

“As a person he was great, he was always giving back, obviously he became an educator then became an administrator, great family man.”

Mantley had coached with Smith one year when he was at St. Patrick’s High School, played against him when he attended Dalhousie and Smith was at St. FX, and had recently been coaching with him as part of Basketball Nova Scotia.

He told Global News that the U-17 team had practice on the weekend following Smith’s death and during that practice people were putting flowers, cards and candles in front of Citadel.

Practice had a “sombre mood,” he said, but that the players kept “plugging through”.

“They realized that Wade would want us to do that even though he’s not with us at this present moment, but he is looking down upon us and coaching from above,” Mantley said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They realized that Wade would want us to do that even though he's not with us at this present moment, but he is looking down upon us and coaching from above," Mantley said.

Hudson said she’d remember him for how people followed him and how he treated them.

“Wade had his own style,” she said. “He was just his own person and remember, he’s a coach, so he coached basketball, so he had a lot of people who followed him because of basketball but he also made an impact in terms of what he wanted to see happen within the education system.”

She said she believes he wanted to reach out and get other people to understand the issues that exist within society, especially in Nova Scotia, and the difference that can be made.

“I would see him as being a warrior, a very strong individual with a strong personality, but very kind-hearted in terms of the impact he wanted to make for all learners and students,” Hudson said.

In Smith’s obituary on Dignity Memorial.com, which was something he wanted to write himself but “time didn’t permit” and so instead was “told by my brother Craig”, it pays tribute to his family.

“It is readily apparent that Wade accomplished more than most on and off the basketball court, but his most accomplished and trusted assets were with his devoted wife Sherry and his two incredibly talented, loving, and well equipped for life sons Jaydan and Jaxon,” the obituary reads.

“The three of them were the centre-piece of his life and most notably, his most accomplished acts in his life.”

In the obituary, it asks that instead of flowers Smith “would suggest you spend time with your children and loved ones, toast your great friendships, keep things simple, keep things smooth, and keep things moving.”

Donations can be made to the Wade Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund or Education Fund for Jaydan and Jaxon via Scotiabank.

An open visitation will take place Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and 6-8 p.m. at Snows Funeral Home on Lacewood Drive. A celebration of life will take place Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Emmanuel Baptist Church on Pockwock Road in Upper Hammonds Plains.

—With files from Jennifer Grudic, Global News