Ronald Henry Smith

RONALD HENRY SMITH. Husband, father, friend, publisher, photographer, gardener, author, hiker, naturalist, hunter, fisherman, BBQ-er, traveler, professor, cowboy, sage, singer, DIY-er and sourdough cook, Ron Smith left us on August 6, 2018. Ron was kind, magnanimous, dryly funny but never mean, soft-spoken but not shy, well-read but not snooty, and usually the first to arrive and last to leave parties. He was always doing something. 

Ron was born in Queens, New York on June 28, 1931 to Harry Smith and Beatrice I. Stone (Smith), later to be joined by his little brother Neal. The family eventually settled in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts in the Connecticut River Valley in 1942. Like most kids in those days, he had many adventures growing up during the war years in Western Mass: “All of these little adventures fed my love of the outdoors and forests.”

He attended Cathedral High School in Springfield, Mass. His memoir recalls his first day at school: “I vividly remember that first day. As school recessed I headed for the school bus, my only useful arm loaded with books. That broken arm was never set in a cast but rather strapped with tape directly to my skinny chest.” In his junior year his Dad bought a property and together they built a home there, the kids working as much as they could in their time between school sessions. To help with family bills, Ron worked part time jobs delivering milk, hoeing weeds and bringing in hay at a nearby farm, working in orchards, and making caskets at a local lumber yard.” 

Ron attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1949, close enough to home to return to work the orchards on weekends. As a lover of the outdoors he originally intended to study veterinary science, so he entered college as a pre-med/pre-vet, then switched majors in his junior year to wildlife management. On his own financially by this time, he joined ROTC his second year in college. The timing of this and the conflict in Korea allowed him a two-year commitment but with an educational deferment. “Nonetheless, I do remember being somewhat caught up in the fervor to serve.” After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree, Ron reported for military service, first at Fort Knox, Kentucky and then Fort Richardson, Alaska. He was assigned to a tank company, and since they weren’t using heavy armor in Korea, he did not see combat. 

After his military service, Ron entered the Wildlife Research Unit at Utah State University. There he received his Master of Science degree, studying the breeding habits of the Chukar Partridge, a bird that was introduced as a game species by the Utah Fish and Game Department. His research allowed him long stays in remote areas in the Utah backcountry. He told many wonderful stories of herding sheep, fishing in the high country, and collecting artifacts and dinosaur bones during his Utah summers. 

In 1958 Ron landed his “first and only permanent employment” with the Arizona Game & Fish Department as biostatistician, where he worked until his retirement in 1988. He loved his job. 

In 1961 Ron met country-farm-girl-turned-graphic-artist Loraine Remington. After a short courtship they married on March 3, 1962, and remained happily married until her death in 2008. They raised and are survived by three kids: Stephen, Alan and Julie. Their first home was in Scottsdale, where they lived until moving to north Phoenix in 1966 closer to Ron’s workplace. They raised their kids in that home, moving only once to Vermont for six months in 1977, when Ron took a sabbatical to teach at the University of Vermont for one semester. 

In 1988, Ron and Loraine moved to Pine Woods Road in Prescott, his beloved home for 30 years. He embraced his new community with flair and fervor, joining city planning commissions, trails associations and land trusts. He researched, wrote and published two trail books, Mountain Sojourns and Prescott and Central Highlands Trails in six editions, considered by many to be among the best trail guides of the area. He personally hiked, photographed, mapped, described and plotted every one of those trails. He also found time to remain active in church and the Prescott Master Chorale, helped many others publish books, and traveled around the country and the world. 

In 2010 Ron married Vaughn Delp, enlarging his family by five generations! They lived happily together on Pine Woods Road in Prescott, traveling and enjoying friends and classes together, until his health declined in late 2017. He spent his remaining months at the Margaret T. Morris Center, with daily visits from his loving Wife, friends and family.

In Lieu of flowers or gifts please consider a donation to Highlands Center for Natural History www.highlandscenter.org  or Quixote's Garage www.quixotes-garage.org