William Smith Obituary

Professor William Hoyt Smith of Independence went to heaven on May 2, 2015.

Son of Raymond and Rosetta Smith, he was born June 5, 1949, in Torrance, California. He was a child archaeologist in California, studying all things nature. He then moved to Longview, Washington, graduating in 1967 from R.A. Long High School. He left right afterward for Europe with a 10-speed bicycle. He returned two years later to attend Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology and nutrition.

He then taught Modern Greek language and culture from 1976 to 1977. He traveled for Evergreen to Greece and to the Yucatan in Mexico, studying language and cultural living. He came to Corvallis in 1992 and did graduate teaching of cultural comparative cultures at Oregon State University till 1993. He then taught linguistic anthropology at Chemeketa Community College in Salem from 1998 to this year.

"Billy" loved speaking Spanish, Greek and Mayan. He loved traveling; reading; gardening; taking nature walks with his wife, Dawn; and making jewelry with her. He loved his daughter, Amber, and her husband, Aaron; and his sisters, Judy Reed and Becky Foster of Nashville, Arkansas, Molly Smith of Corvallis and Ramona Peterson of Longview. They lost their dear brother. He will be deeply missed by hundreds of people, and never forgotten.