William J Smith

May 21, 1929 - December 10, 2021

William ("Bill") J. Smith was born May 21, 1929, in Marshall Missouri to William R. Smith and Lela C. (Thomas) Smith.He attended Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar Missouri where he met his bride, Barbara Mann. They were married August 7, 1953, in Independence Missouri and they began raising their family in farm country before moving to Portland Oregon in 1959. They found their permanent residence in 1966 in Oregon City, the perfect spot to raise their two daughters and three sons. Bill and Barbara sang du-ets - something they started early in their marriage - at many of the churches they attended.Having grown up on a farm, Bill loved tractors and planting his yearly garden. A real handy man, he always had a project repairing, building, or improving something. One of his later projects was building a large shop where he did lawnmower repair for the neighborhood. Bill was friendly and outgoing and made it a point to get to know his neighbors. It wasn't unusual finding him up the road helping somebody out.Bill retired from Brown Lumber (working at the Gladstone and later the Portland location) in 1991 after 30 years and kept busy with home projects or traveling cross country with Bar-bara in their RV. More recently, he enjoyed collecting model-sized cars, trucks, firetrucks and tractors and making crafts out of various materials he accumulated.He is survived by children Linetta Henderson (Mike), Roger Smith (Suez), Jeff Smith (Liz), Alana Wells (Dan), 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. He was preced-ed in death by his wife Barbara (2018) and son Kenneth (2011). Also his parents, and siblings Minnie Biebel, John Smith, and Lois Crawford, all from Missouri.Memorial contributions can be made to Tri-City Baptist Temple in Gladstone, Oregon. www.tcbt.org.