March 11, 2010, 11:30:00AM. By Gordon Gibb

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Deerfield, MI: Friends of the man everyone called "Smuzz" knew him as a proud and decent man who put in a good day's work for a good day's pay. The daughter of the late Melvin D. Smotherman, of Deerfield, Michigan, says her father died of mesothelioma and attributes his asbestos-related cancer to his work.

It's a common story: workers toil for decades in conditions laced with asbestos fibers without knowing they are damaging their health. Employers either don't care or don't know that asbestos mesothelioma can take years, if not decades, to emerge. A worker can seem healthy on the job and appear so for years afterwards, not knowing that asbestos is lurking in his lungs and elsewhere in his body.

Smotherman, who died on March 4 at the age of 77, was a skilled welder who learned the tricks of his trade in the Air Force. He joined the service at 17 during the Korean War and emerged from his training as a senior welder. He was soon repairing aircraft at bases in Illinois and Newfoundland, and would later work at the David-Besse and Fermi nuclear power plants, various foundries and the shipyard in Toledo, Ohio. Rather than working for a single employer, "Smuzz" took his various assignments from the Toledo Area Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 33.

He also taught welding at an apprenticeship school, according to a 3/8/10 account in the Blade, a Toledo, Ohio-based newspaper.

He finally retired in 1988, proud of what he had accomplished. His daughter, Vanda Stauffer, said she could never recall the family taking a vacation while she was growing up. He never took a day off work.

"He was extremely proud of the work he did," said Stauffer. "He was the hardest-working person I ever knew."

One day in January, Smotherman had some difficulty breathing. He died just two months after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

It is not known if the family is considering legal action via an asbestos lawsuit.

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