Obituary of David Smith

David was born November 9, 1954 at Emmanuel hospital in Portland, OR to James Douglas Smith and Marilyn McManigal Smith, a true native Oregonian.  After graduating from Centennial High School he attended Oregon State University where he met his wife of 42 years, Kristine (Kristi) Ringstad.  He was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and Kristi was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority across the street, so a convenient way to meet. He explored a range of majors before settling on Forestry his last couple years.  After college, Dave and a partner had their own business installing wood stoves in newly constructed homes during the recession, at a time of double digit interest rates. He then went on to do estimating, ran the Earth Stove line at Peerless Corp. as well as several other positions.   With a proven aptitude in computers he ended up as a Systems Analyst at Electro Scientific Industries (ESI) for over 20 years.

Anyone who knew Dave knew he was very adept at building or fixing just about anything.  Kristi’s family affectionately called him Tool Man.  He designed their home in West Linn and built a majority of it along with a contractor in 1985.  He continued to remodel and fix up their home with the last project raising the garage ceiling under the 2^nd floor and installing a new beam.

Dave and Kristi loved camping and bought their first Pop-up Chalet trailer in 2003 and graduated up to a 5^th wheel in 2013.  Besides trips to Central OR and the coast they made memorable trips to Tucson, AZ, Yellowstone, Canada and the western states.  He made many improvements to every trailer which he enjoyed as much as the travel.

Dave was a true renaissance man, enjoyed cooking and his home, had a sharp wit, made friends easily and will be missed by many.  He is survived by his wife Kristi, brothers James H Smith (Deborah Skiles) of Stevensville, MT and Michael J Smith of Carson, WA.  He died peacefully May 30, 2021 of liver failure and cancer after being diagnosed one year prior.