Donald Christopher Smith

Donald Christopher Smith of Bellevue, 86, passed away November 09, 2019, following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease and skin cancer of the head and neck.  Mr. Smith was born in Seattle on Christmas Day 1932. 

Donald C. Smith was a Federal official in Seattle with the Small Business Administration of the United States Government.  For the final three years of his career, Mr. Smith was concurrently SBA Region X deputy regional administrator and Region X acting regional administrator, a rare dual position where Mr. Smith was both chief of operations for all SBA offices and functions in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska, and Region X SBA public relations official.  That position occurred because the Region X regional administrator in place during Mr. Smith’s first year as DRA died unexpectedly, and Mr. Smith had been with the SBA for 30 years in 1991 when he entered the DRA position and offered to the SBA national administrator to perform both the DRA position and an acting regional administrator position.  The national administrator agreed to the combined position and then reappointed Mr. Smith to that arrangement for the next three years, until Mr. Smith retired.

In addition, the SBA national administrator also appointed Donald C. Smith SBA advisor for small business to the Clinton Transition Team in 1992 and SBA delegate to the Pacific Northwest Regional Timber Conference in Portland, Oregon, a roundtable discussion President Clinton chaired, and Mr. Smith was selected for an audience for former president Ronald Reagan when Mr. Reagan spoke at the Washington Plaza hotel in Seattle during Mr. Smith’s DRA/ARA years. 

Notable as well is that Donald C. Smith gave both Ski Acres on Snoqualmie Pass and K2 Ski Corporation loans to go into business when Mr. Smith was an SBA loan officer. 

In 1995, Donald C. Smith concluded a Small Business Administration career of 33.5 years.

The United States Air Force was the highlight of Donald Smith’s early life.  Donald was in the Air Force during the Korean War and selected into the Strategic Air Command; made sergeant at age 20; and his final duty was international surveillance based in England.  During the Korean War [the following is not Classified], the Air Force believed the Soviet Union was planning to invade Europe, with Europe weakened by World War II, and the Air Force established a team that operated with the British Royal Air Force to monitor the Soviet Union for sign of build-up toward Europe.  Donald was named to that team, which was stationed at RAF Station Sculthorpe in England, and Donald considered England one of the best experiences of his life.   

Donald Smith was originally from Seattle, and after the Air Force went back to Seattle but then moved to Selah to room with an Air Force buddy from Selah who had also just discharged.  Donald began classes at Yakima Valley Community College, now Yakima Valley College, and there met Marilyn Diez, who would finish YVCC in five quarters and community college academic honorary Phi Theta Kappa.  Donald and Marilyn were married in 1955 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Yakima, and Mr. and Mrs. Donald C. Smith had been married for 62 years at the time of Mrs. Smith’s passing, in 2018.

In the late 1950s, Donald was men’s department buyer for Yakima department store McDougal’s and commuted to Central Washington College of Education in Ellensburg, now Central Washington University.  Donald was on the CWCE honor roll multiple quarters and graduated in 1959 with a B.S. in economics, and in 1961 accepted an SBA trainee loan officer position with the Seattle district office.  That position began Donald’s SBA career, and Donald, Marilyn, and boys moved to Seattle, then settled in Bellevue in 1962, and in 2018, Donald and Marilyn Smith had been residents of Bellevue for 56 years.

Everyone liked Donald C. Smith.  He was a consummate people person natural at respectful rapport, and we were so proud of Dad’s magnificent career and the presiding leader he was there.  What we will most remember, however, is how fortunate we all were to have had this incomparable, outstanding man as our father.  At home, Donald C. Smith was a warm, loving, supportive, fun dad who from our earliest memories treated each of us, and all of us, as a treasured gift.

Donald Christopher Smith is survived by son Brad Smith (Nancy) of Yakima, daughter Sherri Smith of Ellensburg, granddaughter Michelle Copher and great-grandson Ryley of Yakima, and granddaughter Kathleen Linden (Ian) of Lynnwood.  Donald was preceded in death by his wife, Marilyn; older son Bryan; brother Jack; father, John; half brother Dennis; newborn son Douglas Michael; and mother, Gladys. 

Mass of Christian Burial will be at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Yakima on Wednesday, December 11, at 10:00 AM.  Graveside ceremony at Calvary Cemetery in Yakima will follow.  The family requests remembrances to Parkinson’s disease treatment center Booth Gardner Parkinsons Care Center of EvergreenHealth Medical Center, at www.evergreenhealth.com.