Robert William Smith

Robert William Smith was born on May 26, 1933 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to William Otis Smith & Edna Bennetts. He grew up in Salt Lake City but moved to Denver for a short time. When he was 12 his father passed away, so they moved back to Salt Lake City.

In 1953 he enlisted in the US Army ROTC at the University of Utah. He boarded a train with a sandwich from his mom, and entered basic training at Fort Ord, California. One week before basic training ended, the Korean War peace treaty was signed, but he was sent to Korea anyway. As a 20-year-old man his most valuable asset was his typing skill, so he became a company clerk. He even typed up his own promotion letter to sergeant. He reported that Korea was just like MASH – smelly, cold, swampy, and there was a 5 o’clock Charlie. He was honorably discharged in 1955.

He re-enrolled at the University of Utah and majored in speech. Shortly after he finished college he begrudgingly went to a party with a friend. There he saw a pretty girl and said, ‘my name is Bob Smith, would you like to go get some ice?’ Nancy Erickson couldn’t believe that pick-up line, but she fell for it, nonetheless. They spent time driving around in his TR3 and going to Sugarhouse. Nancy said she met a happy, fun guy, with a great sense of humor.

They dated for less than a year and spent summer weekends in Magna watching baseball. He proposed at Christmas and they were married June 27, 1959 in Salt Lake City, followed by a honeymoon in Las Vegas.

Bob began work at Surety Life and David was born in 1961. Two years later they moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where Bob worked at Academy Life. They moved to the new city of Northglenn in 1965 and Michael was born in 1969. He retired after 26 years at Security Life of Denver.

They moved to Chandler, Arizona in 1997 where they enjoyed sunshine and not shoveling snow.

Bob was always involved in their churches – as deacon, elder, Sunday School teacher, sound tech, usher and number-one fan of Nancy’s singing. Their church homes of Valley Heights Christian Church, Northglenn Christian Church, Sun Bird and Sun Lakes Community Church were their closest families. His other hobbies were the Ghost Town Club of Colorado (both were president), square dancing, model railroading and summer weekends in Grandby. He was chosen for the Arizona Honor Flight in 2018.

On April 16, 2022 he went to be with his Lord and Savior.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years Nancy, children David (Coleen) and Michael (Nicole); grandchildren Mathew, Katie, Tyler and Michaela; great-grands Levi and Liliana; step-grands Meghan Stewart (Kevin), and Morgan Heinzroth (Sylar); step-great-grands McKinley and Hallie; and numerous adoring nieces and nephews and their children. He was the original Bumpa.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Ghost Town Club of Colorado Preservation Fund.

He is preceded in death by his parents and sisters Lila McDermaid, Dorothy Fortin, and brother Jim Smith. Cremation has taken place and he has been interred at the Valley of the Sun Cemetery. It seems perfectly fitting that he left us on Easter weekend – “Jesus replied, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”