Richal Smith

Richal Smith was born in Lahaina, Maui in 1932 when it was a small company town. He always felt he had an idyllic childhood and youth. He left Lahaina to attend Washington State University, where he received degrees in Architectural Engineering and Civil Engineering. He met his wife, Karen, there. In the four weeks following his graduation, he married Karen, moved with her to Hawaii to begin his career on the sugar plantation, received a draft notice, and found himself in basic training with the U. S. Army at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu. Following the two years in the Army, Richal and Karen moved to Seattle where he began his career as a Structural Engineer.

In 1973 he began his own firm and eventually joined with his dear friend Gary Swenson: their business became known as Smith and Swenson. Pioneer Square was just being revived and they did work on many renovations of old buildings.

In later years, he served on the King County Disaster Team as a structural engineer and had the opportunity to go to the Philippines in the 80’s. He went to work for FEMA as a reservist, where he was called to assess damage caused by disasters. He found it very interesting, as it involved working in various part of the US following earthquakes or flooding.

He and Karen had two children, Jamie and Norm. In high school, Norm got involved in Amigos De Las Americas, which sent high school students to Latin America for healthcare projects. Richal became very interested also and spent considerable effort to learn Spanish. He went to Guatemala in 1987, fell in love with Guatemala and has since been there at least 40 times volunteering with Agros International and Engineering Ministries International. In recent years he has particularly enjoyed taking his three grandsons, Josh, Elliot, and Stuart, to Guatemala. There have been others to whom he has passed his love of Guatemala.

His daughter, Jamie began running in high school which sparked his interest in running. He ran 4 marathons, several triathlons and many 10K’s around the Northwest. He also biked the STP several times with son-in-law, Steve and grandson, Josh.

He was always open to new ideas and learning. He loved to encourage those he met along the way. Family was very important to him and brought him great joy. They include Karen; daughter and son-in-law, Jamie and Steve Froebe; son and daughter-in-law, Norm Smith and Cheryl Smith; grandchildren: Josh (and Kara) Froebe, Elliot (and Jessi) Smith (and their daughter, Presley, 3 years), Stuart Smith, Elise Froebe, and Claira Smith. Additionally, Karen and Richal consider Kelly Ebels Phelps and Laurie Wheeler Brenner to be family as both lived with them for several years. He lived his life grateful to God for the many blessings he had been given and his family knows he is now at peace.

A family burial service will be held at Acacia Cemetery on July 8th and a Celebration of Life will be held at the Women’s University Club on September 26th at 2:30pm.