In Memory

Jeff S. Smith

Jeff S. Smith

Jeff was in Football, Swimming, Senior Council, Junior Council, Junior Guard, Pinnacle, Boys' Social Hour, and Lettermen's Club.



 
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08/16/13 09:01 PM #1    

Maralyn Hauer (Hauer)

 Jeff Smith 67, award-winning journalist, opinion writer, editorialist, commentator on the passing parade, died on August 5, 2013 at the home he built with his own hands in Patagonia, Arizona. Motorcyclist, black powder shooter, caregiver to horses, burros, and dogs, he is best remembered for his love of his daughter, Liza (Jeff Turman) and his son, Caleb. The son of Hubert Mortimer (Mort) and Pauline Marie Rediker Smith, brother of David Smith, all who predeceased him. Jeff was born in Tucson, AZ. He graduated from Tucson High and the University of Arizona. Over his long and varied journalism career, he wrote for the Arizona Daily Star, the Tucson Citizen, The Tucson Weekly, The Phoenix New Times, and The Desert Leaf. He loved motorcycling and traveled throughout the Southwest with his former wife, Barbara Smith and his many motorcycling friends. An accident 32 years ago left him wheelchair bound but he continued to ride sidecar motorcycles, write, and enjoy his family, friends, and animals. Jeff was always aware of the needs in our community. The family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Patagonia Volunteer Fire Dept., P.O. Box 497 Patagonia, AZ, 85624. A memorial will be held at the gazebo in the Patagonia Town Park at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday August 24, 2013 near the Senior Center at 100 Quiroga Ln. Patagonia, AZ, 85624. Arrangements by ADAIR FUNERAL HOMES, Dodge Chapel, Tucson, AZ. 

 
 
 

08/17/13 03:09 PM #2    

Marilyn Romine (Huffman)

I called Jeff about a year ago when I started our Reunion search.  I hadn't spoken to him since high school, or possibly junior high.  We had a great conversation.  He told me about his accident, children, career, classmates he'd stayed in touch with (complete with phone numbers!), and classmates he hoped I'd find that he wanted to see at our 50th.

This e-mail from May 16, 2013 was the last time I heard from him.  He was one-of-a-kind.  He was one of us.  He will be remembered and missed.

"marilyn,

for some reason - well not some, actually, but the usual, i've got my head up my
ass and cannot see, nor can i breathe all that great, now that i think about it -
i can't seem to log-on the website.

so just so you know it, i'll be there...with bells on. truth be told, not with
bells on, more like guns. just to rattle the politically correct, anti-gun
crowd.

adios for now,

smith"
 


12/09/13 10:28 PM #3    

Maralyn Hauer (Hauer)

Our beloved classmate Jeff Smith died on August 5, 2013.  We will always remember him for his intellect and sharp wit.  Jeff had a stellar career as a journalist.  Here is an article by Chuck Bowden, another writer from Tucson High:

Chuck Bowden Remembers Jeff Smith

Posted by on Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 4:00 PM

Jeff Smith at his Patagonia home

Author Chuck Bowden shares some memories of journalist Jeff Smith, who passed away over the weekend:

It’s September as I recall and I am in the newsroom of the Tucson Citizen when a sudden stillness smothers everything. There’s been a call—Jeff Smith on vacation has gone off his bike in New Mexico at a reported hundred miles an hour. It is like watching a reputation for mischief bleed into tragedy.

He’d had a long run as a bad boy. He’d been a columnist and raised hell and bounced around from paper to paper because while he might be fine for a newspaper, he was a little too frisky for people who say the word journalism with a straight face. After all, he once covered the Rodeo Parade without attending, filed long and fulsome coverage and only got tripped up by his description of the Budweiser Clydesdales—some mishap had delayed them and they’d not made the event. Well, shit happens.

Just as he had a habit of sneaking double entendre into his copy to the rage of desk and the publisher and I suspect to the delight of a lot of readers.

After the crash when the head-on plopped him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, there was a kind of circling of the wagons in the newsroom and the management looked out at a surly herd and decided they’d have to find a place for Jeff Smith and his battered body. They gave him the television beat. And this worked for a while.

But it was a hard go for Jeff. He put the bravest possible face on being a paraplegic. I never heard him complain, not once. There was a moment, I was in the men’s room, he was maneuvering with his wheelchair and I helped a bit with the door.

I asked him how it was going.

He said okay except that with the kind of impact he’d survived the pain never really ended.

He said this calmly, as if mentioning the weather.

Then he went on with his life.

I think there’s a lesson in all this.

He was always willing to ride.

And he didn’t complain about the road.

 


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