Douglas Clyde Smith
Douglas Clyde Smith passed from this world on July 14, 2020, at Yuma Regional Medical Center, Yuma, Ariz. He was so weary from having health issues these last few months it was time to let go and make his way home.
Doug was born on Nov. 19, 1939, in Wallace, Idaho, the first son to Clyde and Ruth Wesselman Smith. Their other Smith children included Tom, Earl and Alice Smith Coffey. They were some of the many kids that grew up on the infamous “west-side” of Boundary County, were hard workers in the agricultural industry, and Doug spoke often of mint growing, other farm work and the tragic Kootenai River Floods in the 1940s and ’50s. The floods prompted the Smith family to relocate to the McArthur Lake area and Doug kept connections to the McArthur Lake area for his adult life. Doug was always a hard worker and he and his brothers will be remembered as working at Frank Lenhart’s Service Station in Bonners Ferry.
Doug graduated from Bonners Ferry High School, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, in 1957 and served several years in the Idaho Army National Guard, making friends who were life-long buddies. On his last trip to Bonners Ferry six years ago he reported most of his buddies were in the cemeteries and he was feeling fortunate he was still on this side of the grass. Doug’s cremains, as he requested, will eventually be located at McArthur Lake Cemetery where he can enjoy the North Idaho views and be with his friends and family.
Doug worked at the timber mills in Bonners Ferry, ran heavy equipment and eventually became a owner/operator log truck driver working the timber industry in Idaho, Montana and Washington. He even reported he had worked as a night cook at “The Mint” in Bonners Ferry. As times changed and the timber industry was becoming a lost occupation and logging up the Yaak was winding down, Doug turned to oil field work in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. He spent 20 years loving his job in the oilfields and was one person who truly loved the work he did in spite of the cold weather and having to work away from home for three to four week hitches. He also owned and operated the Naples Trailer Park for several years.
On Dec. 4, 1992, Doug and Sharon Watson Bourassa were married in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and began their life’s journey together. Each of them had found their .5 fte mate, they both loved their jobs and later found a love of Yuma in the winter time when their schedules coincided. They eventually made Yuma their full-time retirement home. They were both active in the Bonners Ferry Fraternal Order of Eagles No. 3522, serving as presidents locally, at the district Level and state level before moving to Arizona.
Doug was preceded in death by parents, Clyde and Ruth Smith; and a brother, Tom Smith. He is survived by wife Sharon Smith, siblings Earl Smith (Connie) and Alice (Pat) Coffey, his children Wayne Smith and Penny Smith, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and numerous nephews and nieces.
