Biography
Reatha Parsell Smith (1903-1976), daughter of a Carnation Milk field manager in Forest Grove, Oregon, graduated from Pacific University in that city (c1924) and taught school at nearby Wilhelmina High School. Her husband, Leroy D. Smith (1907-after 1978), son of a Berkeley (Calif.) attorney and cattle rancher, graduated from Pacific University (1928) and later taught high school in Forest Grove, Oregon (c1930-43), where he eventually rose to the rank of Vice Principal. After 1943, the Smiths lived in Berkeley, California. Mr. Smith was a counselor at Alameda High School until his retirement (c1972). In his spare time, Mr. Smith made bows and arrows, taught archery, and worked with the Boy Scouts. The Smiths were also active members of the Berkeley First Congregational Church. Retha and Leroy Smith had two sons. The eldest, Roger, became a Congregationalist minister in northern California. Myron, the Smith's second son, taught high school chemistry in Washington state. During their California years, Mr. and Mrs. Smith spent many hours typing the contents of 19th c. California, Oregon and Nevada newspapers onto cards with the intention of publishing a book based upon their research on the history of the copper industry in California. They also volunteered their services as researchers to the historical societies of several northern California counties and spent time searching and copying documents and newspapers in the Calaveras County Recorder's Office, the California State Library, the Bancroft Library and the Stockton Public Library in the course of this work.
From the guide to the Smith Collection of Pacific Coast Newspaper Transcripts, 1856-1890, (University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections)
