Thursday motorcade will pay tribute to Sheriff Smith

Sheriff Blaise Smith is being remembered this week for a short but eventful term as St. Mary Parish sheriff.
Smith, 75, died about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, the Sheriff’s Office said.
A law enforcement motorcade will leave Ibert’s Mortuary in Franklin on Thursday, passing through through St. Mary Parish and ending at the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.
There, a gathering of family and friends will be held beginning at 11 a.m. The funeral will begin at 3 p.m. with the Rev. Mo Seneca officiating.
Following the service, Smith will be cremated, his obituary says. Interment will occur privately at a later date.
In a Facebook post, Chief Chad M. Adams and the Morgan City Police Department offered “their heartfelt condolences to the family of Sheriff’s Blaise Smith and the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office on the passing of Sheriff Smith.
“May God be with you all during this difficult time and the days to come.”
Berwick Police Chief David S. Leonard echoed that sentiment.
“It takes a tremendous amount of courage and skill to do the work Sheriff Blaise Smith and his team were so adept at doing – the type of courage that most do not possess, much less display every single day and night,” Leonard said.
“Sheriff Blaise Smith was full of enthusiasm for his family, for his friends, and for his fellow officers. The St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office as well as every surrounding law enforcement agency takes a tremendous loss of knowledge and skill with the untimely passing of Sheriff Blaise Smith. On behalf of all the men and women of the Berwick Police Department, I extend to you my most profound condolences.”
A Facebook post from Sheriff-elect Gary Driskell credited Smith with improving the department in his more than five years as sheriff.
“His dedication, integrity, and unwavering support for his deputies earned him respect and admiration from all who had the privilege of working alongside him,” the statement said.
Smith was born Dec. 7, 1948, to a military family in San Diego. He would also serve in the military and was a Vietnam combat veteran.
After leaving the service, Smith began a 50-year career in law enforcement, and had served as sheriff since winning a special election in 2018.
Smith won the right to serve the remaining term of Sheriff Mark Hebert, who resigned in January 2018.
Smith won re-election in October 2019, getting 55% of the parishwide vote in a three-candidate field.
In March 2022, the Sheriff’s Office announced that Smith was ““suffering from an as yet-undetermined illness and is seeking in-patient medical evaluation and treatment at a medical facility at the present time.” Smith later announced that he would not seek re-election.
Driskell, Smith’s chief deputy, won the October 2023 election but has yet to take office.
Smith’s time in office was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing labor shortage that left many law enforcement agencies scrambling for new hires.
The Sheriff’s Office also began working more closely with local police in response to a wave of gun violence in west St. Mary.
And the Sheriff’s Office, along with municipal police departments and the School Board, played a role in the expansion of the law enforcement presence in schools through school resource officers.
Smith is survived by his wife of 22 years, Karen McGoff Smith, and three children.