Obituaries : * James D. Smith; Cowboy, Graphic Designer

James D. Smith, a onetime cowboy who later designed training manuals for Ventura County firefighters, died Saturday. He was 60.

A native of Oklahoma, Smith moved to California in the 1950s, when he was stationed at March Air Force Base near Riverside.

He held various jobs, ranging from a crane operator for McDonnell Douglas Corp. to a cattle-brand inspector for the state. But Smith’s enduring love was for horses, which his family had while he was growing up.

In the late 1970s, he became an instructor for the now-defunct equestrian program at Moorpark College.

At Moorpark, Smith was trampled by an unruly horse. The accident left him with several broken ribs and vertebrae, confining him to a body cast for several months, his daughter, Lorie Gollihugh, said.

But the injury did not keep him down for long.

Smith took classes in computer graphics and launched a new career designing training manuals for the Ventura County Fire Department in the late 1980s.

Battalion Chief Michael Estrada, who was Smith’s supervisor, said Smith was the first person the department hired to do graphics for training manuals.

Not only did Smith design pictures of burning houses and fire engines, he edited the text for the booklets, Estrada said.

Estrada added that Smith easily fit in at the Fire Department. “He was a salt-of-the-Earth kind of guy, very personable, very loyal, hard-working,” he said. “He took a lot of those attributes of a cowboy, a rancher, and brought them into the office. Firefighters have those attributes too.”

Smith retired two years ago after he developed kidney cancer, which caused his death.

In addition to Gollihugh of Riverside, he is survived by two sons, Duane Smith and David Smith, both of Simi Valley. He also had six grandchildren.

Arrangements are being handled by Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary in Camarillo. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be sent to the Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Hospice Program in Ventura.