Joseph L. Smayda

Joe Smayda was born on July 8, 1935 to Joe and Eleanor Smayda in the small coal-mining town of McCullough, PA. He was raised there with his brother, Robert. The family regularly attended the only

Protestant Church in the area, the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) where he played the piano for Sunday School and was the only teen in the church’s adult choir.

Joe began college at Penn State in 1953 and sang in the local EUB church. The church was planning a new sanctuary, so during the four years there, Joe organized benefit concerts by students he solicited

from the campus. In 1957 Joe graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in Accounting. Following his graduation the family moved to California. Arriving in Los Angeles, Joe began his 35-year-career with Texaco in Accounting. He joined the Immanuel Presbyterian Church which just happened to be next to his workplace at Texaco. Joe was active with the choir at Immanuel Presbyterian Church as well as the Los Angeles Master Chorale for over 25 years.

In 1984, Texaco transferred Joe to Denver where he lived and worked until his retirement in 1992. While in Denver, he attended the Wellshire Presbyterian Church and joined the Wellshire Presbyterian

Church Choir. Joe took two trips with that choir overseas. He also sang with the Opera Colorado chorus and the Denver Symphony Orchestra chorus. Over the years Joe performed with these groups in

Beijing and Vienna, as well as the 1973 inauguration of Richard Nixon in Washington, D.C.

In 1992, Joe retired to San Jacinto, California and immediately joined the First Presbyterian Church of Hemet and the church choir, but remained with larger groups to bring back ideas to the church’s choir.

Among the organizations with which Joe was involved was the Pacific Chorale in Orange County, the Inland Master Chorale in Redlands, and the Raincross Chorale in Riverside. All together, Joe

was involved with church choirs and choral music for over 60 years.In November 2007, Joe became a member of the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hemet as the worship and choir pianist and he

remained in that position until his retirement in June 2019. Later he resided at The Village in Hemet, where he peacefully passed on October 10, 2023, at the age of 88 years.