Seth Smith; Former Oxnard Employee

Seth Smith, a 36-year county resident and former shop foreman for the city of Oxnard, died Monday of a heart attack while vacationing in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He was 83.

Despite being legally blind for three years, Smith remained active, often traveling throughout the West to visit relatives and spending two weeks a year fishing on Lake Havasu, said his daughter, Gloria Smith.

He also loved gardening, growing vegetables and fruit in his backyard.

“He kept busy,” she said. “That’s probably what kept him alive so long.”

He was born July 20, 1912, in Balko, Okla. He married his wife, Fern, in 1937. They left Balko that same year, moving to Idaho and then Washington state, where he worked on the Grand Coulee Dam. The family moved to Oxnard in 1960 from Reedley, Calif., and Smith went to work for the city a year later.

A mechanic, he rose to become foreman of the municipal shop that performed repair work on city vehicles. He retired in 1982.

Even though he worked 6 1/2 days a week for many years, he found time for his family, Gloria Smith said.

“He taught a couple of his granddaughters how to fish for catfish,” she said. “He was very family oriented. His family came first in almost everything.”

In addition to his wife and daughter, survivors include daughter Beulah Marie Sollars of Eugene, Ore; sons Hugh Smith of Warner, S.D., and Clark Smith of Ahwahnee, Calif.; 14 grandchildren, and 26 great-grandchildren.

Graveside services will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park in Camarillo. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of James A. Reardon Mortuary, Oxnard.