Paul B. Smith

Paul B. Smith was born in 1918 on a farm near Farmer City, IL. Paul passed away February 5, 2015.

As a young boy, he worked hard, milking cows before the break of dawn and feeding the animals. He attended a one room school house. For fun, he loved climbing to the top of the corn silo and fiddling with the farm equipment.

Paul graduated from the Univ. of Illinois in 1940 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Paul loved adventure and in less than a year at John Deere headed for the West Coast to work at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. He spent his spare time hiking the Olympics as a leader of a local scout troop. The war broke out and Paul joined the Navy and was part of the commissioning crew on the Destroyer USS McKean DD-784.

After WW II, Paul worked for the Controls Division of Babcock & Wilcox in San Francisco working at energy generating facilities throughout California. He met his wife of 62 years, Betty, at Sugar Bowl Ski area. Paul eventually left San Francisco and headed north with his family to Portland in 1958 as a Resident Engineer and then to Seattle in 1960 as the NW District Mgr, working for B & W for over 30 years. Paul shared his love of the outdoors with his children taking them camping, hiking and skiing. His children believe he traveled every road in Washington State and as a family they would spend countless hours checking out new territory.

After retiring from B & W, Paul consulted in the Combustion Control industry. In semi-retirement, he enjoyed traveling to Europe. As a resident of Mercer Island since 1961, Paul would frequently walk the neighborhoods of the island or work at his pea patch. Paul & Betty celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary in Solvang, CA last Thanksgiving. Paul was an active member at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

Paul is survived by his wife Betty and three children: Paul, Gretchen and Holly (Ulfers) and five grandchildren; Matthew, Emily, Adam, Eric and Austin (Ulfers).

We will celebrate Paul’s life when the flowers are in bloom.

Online guestbook at www. curnowfuneralhome.com