Andrew Hays Smith

Andrew, a lifelong resident of Castle Rock, passed away on April 23rd. He graduated from Douglas County High School in 1988 and went on to serve 4 years in the U.S. Army. While in the Army he served at Ft. Campbell, KY, with the 101st Airborne and in Desert Storm. In 1992, he married his best friend from high school, Carole (also a lifelong Castle Rock resident).

After attending Colorado Institute of Art and while trying to build his photography business, Andrew discovered another love, the world of finance. He took what was supposed to be a short term job in the finance industry and ended up spending the next 17 years working at several companies in the Denver Area. These included Oppenheimer Funds, Charles Schwab, Great West Life, American Century, J P Morgan Chase and Transamerica.

Andrew (Andy) loved martial arts of all kinds and trained in 7 different styles over the years. One of his most enduring traits was his desire to help others. He spent 8 years volunteering to teach martial arts to kids. He was a big guy physically but around kids he was a teddy bear and they loved him. He will be remembered for having a fun loving personality and an infections sense of humor. The kids say he was a "geek" at heart because he enjoyed all things science fiction and fantasy. He was a voracious reader of all things, fiction and non, he loved it all. He had a great desire to learn and has instilled this in his children along with a wickedly large vocabulary, he loved big words.

He also had a great love and respect for the outdoors. He and the family celebrated this by exploring the wonderful places around them. He loved to hike "the Rock" in Castle Rock as well as Castlewood Canyon State Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. They had an annual "adventure" to find new places, a family tradition that Carole hopes to continue.

Andrew had just turned 45 at the time of his sudden death. He leaves behind his wife of 22 years, Carole, their 3 sons, Logan and his wife Cinthia, Will, and Ethan. He is also survived by his God Daughter Brittney.

The family asks that instead of flowers please send donations to The Andrew H. Smith Memorial Fund at the First Bank of Douglas County for a college fund.

An Open House Celebration of Andrews life will be held at the family home on May 10th.