Joe Smarzik, 98; Placed Ad Seeking Family to Join for Christmas Dinner

Joe Smarzik, who gained national attention 26 years ago when he placed a newspaper ad looking for a family to eat Christmas dinner with, died last week on another holiday, Thanksgiving. He was 98.

The classified ad, in which Smarzik promised to “furnish the turkey,” resulted in a long relationship with a minister’s family.

“It was so neat to know that he just came out of obscurity ... and touched so many lives,” said Deanna Edwards, a music therapist from Logan, Utah, who publicized Smarzik’s story worldwide.

Smarzik had been a farmer in northern Minnesota, an ice man in Walnut Grove near Tracy, a carpenter in the Twin Cities area, an antique dealer and a remodeler of old houses.

He and his wife had divorced, and he was estranged from his three children.

In 1977, about 20 years after separating from his family, he placed his ad in the Tracy Headlight-Herald, a weekly in the southwestern Minnesota town.

“I was alone for so many Christmases, I thought I’d put the ad in the paper and see if anybody would invite me,” he said later.

Homer Dobson, pastor of the local Church of Christ, and his wife, Betty, made Smarzik part of their Christmas celebration.

It was a relationship that continued for more than 25 years, through Christmases, birthdays, shopping trips and clinic visits. In fact, it was Homer Dobson who took Smarzik to a hospital in nearby Springfield two weeks ago when he wasn’t feeling well.

Edwards learned about the story when she visited Dobson’s church years ago. She visited Smarzik and later wrote a book, “Wanted: One Family.”

In later years, Smarzik established ties with his two daughters and many grandchildren. His son died last year.