Airport military lounge expansion dedicated to Ken Smith

Kenneth Smith, a retired Navy veteran, loved those in the military who served this country. He was the perfect man for the volunteer job of helping start and run the lounge for members of the military, veterans and their families at T.F. Green Airport. Ken was at the lounge, greeting travelers or sitting for long hours when it wasn’t being used, for 30 to 40 hours a week.

His commitment didn’t go unnoticed. Without his knowledge, Ken’s fellow volunteers nominated him for an award.

Betty Leach, co-director of the lounge with Rhonda Ziehl, remarked on Ken’s surprise when he learned not only of his nomination but also that he had been chosen as the state’s top senior volunteer. The recognition didn’t stop there, Leach pointed out to an assembly of Ken’s family and friends, officials and lounge volunteers Friday morning at Green Airport. Ken went on to receive a presidential citation for placing second in the nation for his volunteerism.

The occasion Friday was the opening of a second room as part of the lounge, which most appropriately was dedicated in Ken’s name on Veterans Day.

Ken, who died at the age of 73 more than a year ago, not only had an affinity to fellow veterans and the military but to the community. He was active in a variety of organizations from the Rhode Island Shriners, Tri City Elks Lodge 14, the Masonic Fraternity and in politics. Ken was chair of the Ward 1 Democratic City Committee and was a candidate for City Council twice.

But Ken didn’t label friends by their politics. He was a member of the Thursday Breakfast Club, an informal group of locals, who met for many years at the former Bickfords on Jefferson Boulevard and for some time at the Sheraton and IHOP. The club numbered more than 30 at one time with Ken as one of the regulars along with Frank Amalfetano, Tom Chadronet, Henry Brown and Russell Howard, who died this past week.

Now 93 years old, Amalfetano who is a veteran of the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War II, attended Friday’s ceremony. Amalfetano recalled how he gave Ken photographs of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. “You would have thought I had given him the world,” he said. “He was always outgoing.”

Ward 4 Councilman Joseph Solomon had a similar experience. Solomon named Ken to the Alarm Review Board, a group that reviews situations where homes and businesses perpetually log false alarms. Ken took the appointment very seriously.

“You would have thought he had been named to the Supreme Court,” said Solomon. “He was humble. He didn’t do it to be recognized.”

Donna, Ken’s wife of 43 years, said dedication of the room in his honor “means the world to me and my family.” She said Ken loved being at the military lounge and would have been there 24/7 if he could.

“He was a true veteran,” she said, “he loved the military and would have wanted all the names [of lounge volunteers] on it [the room].”

Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea talked briefly about growing up in a military family.

“It feels like family,” she said to the gathering. “How wonderful to have a space to recognize and appreciate the military.”

Ward 3 Councilman-elect Timothy Howe, who worked with his predecessor Camille Vella-Wilkinson and now Representative-elect to House District 21 and the Rhode Island Military Organization to get the Rhode Island Airport Corporation to designate space for a lounge, thanked all who made the facility possible. He noted how Cardi’s and the Cardi brothers, who were present for the dedication, stepped forward to furnish the lounge and now this expansion.

“I can’t even say enough, do enough for our veterans. We thank you all,” Peter Cardi said.

Since opening in 2013, the military lounge has served more than 10,000 active members of the military.

While the lounge will be hard-pressed to find another Ken Smith, Leach said they could use more volunteers to staff it. She urged those interested in helping to email her at rimovolunteer@gmail.com.