ALVIN SMITH, Obituary

ALVIN SMITH

HINGHAM Alvin Ray Smith, 68, died Friday, March 23, 2001 at a Chester hospital following an extended illness.

Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Thursday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chester. Graveside services with military rites will be 2 p.m. Friday at the Mountainview Cemetery in Dillon.

Smith was born in Sugar City, Idaho on June 17, 1932 to Ben M. Smith and Blanch Burnham. He grew up in Idaho and was educated in Sugar City.

Smith enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1951 and served during the Korean Conflict. He attained the rank of private first class. He received his honorable discharge in 1953, returned to Idaho and remained in the Marine Corps Reserves until 1959.

Smith worked as a ranch hand and as a laborer in the mines at Cobalt.

He met Carol Lorraine Jewett and they were married on March 17, 1963 at Rigby, Idaho.

They moved to Dillon, where he worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation at the East Bench Irrigation System. In 1975, they transferred to Chester, where he continued his job with the Bureau as the tender of Tiber Dam at Lake Elwell.

His wife died Sept. 16, 1989. Smith retired the following year and bought a home in Hingham.

Smith was a member of the Dillon Elks Lodge, Chester American Legion and Hi-Line Sportsman's Club. He was an avid fan of high school wrestling.

He enjoyed hunting, fishing and camping. His hobby was collecting clocks and animal figurines. He also enjoyed playing pinochle and doing woodworking projects. During his quiet time, he enjoyed watching John Wayne movies and "Jeopardy" on TV.

Smith was preceded in death by his parents; wife; daughter, Ginger, in 1968; three brothers, and one sister.

Survivors include his sons, Michael Smith of Albuquerque, N.M., Timothy Smith of Hawaii and Kelly Smith of Choteau; daughters, Karen Yeager of Cut Bank and Susan Graham of Dillon; sisters, Kathryn Farley of Idaho Falls, Idaho, Vendla Deathridge of Olympia, Wash., Alta Johnson of Pahrump, Nev., Ethel Vehawn of California and Blanch Jones of Sugar City, Idaho; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; numerous nephews and nieces; his special friend, Mary Kahre of Gildford.

Arrangements are by Rockman Funeral Chapel of Chester.