SMITH 50th

Ron and Kathy Smith celebrated their 50th anniversary with a family picnic at Wildwood Recreation Area near Mt. Hood in Welches, Ore., on Aug. 9, 2014, and a family banquet on Aug. 10, followed by a vacation on San Juan Island in Puget Sound in September.

Ron Smith met Kathy Detamore while they both attended Takoma Park Academy in Maryland. While Kathy headed to Southern Missionary College (now Southern Adventist University) in Collegedale, Tenn., to study nursing, Ron began his theology studies at Columbia Union College (now Washington Adventist University) in Maryland. But his heart soon drew him to join Kathy down south. They were married by Kathy’s dad, Fordyce Detamore, in Florida on Aug. 9, 1964, just before their senior year of college.

After graduating, the couple moved to Berrien Springs, Mich., where Ron attended the Adventist seminary. He pastored in the Florida Conference for 10 years until the family headed to Oregon Conference. Ron pastored the Hood View Church in Boring for many years before moving into the conference’s trust services department, and Kathy worked as a registered nurse.

Another coast-to-coast move brought them to Maryland, where Ron was the Chesapeake Conference trust services director. But the Pacific Northwest was always home, and they returned a couple years later as Ron became Oregon Conference trust services director and then risk management director until his retirement. Kathy continued to work in nursing and then finished her career in the North Pacific Union treasury department.

Still members of Hood View Church, Ron and Kathy enjoy gardening and working on their coastal vacation property.

The Smith family includes Daryl Smith of Clackamas, Ore.; Darlene Wease; Laurel and Tony Rogers of Milwaukie, Ore.; Lauren and Christine Smith of Milwaukie, Ore.; and 11 grandchildren.