Stephen W. Smith

At age 84 Stephen W. Smith passed away peacefully on February 5, 2024, after years of coronary disease. He was surrounded by his family. Steve was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Alice and Francis Smith and grew up in Plaistow, New Hampshire. He is survived by his wife, Linda Marie Smith, nee Osterman. They married in 1975 and celebrated forty-eight years together. He was preceded in death by his parents and by brothers Dana F. Smith and David B. Turner, sister Margaret Greenwood, brother-in-law Lewis Osterman, and sisters-in-law Sun Cha Smith and Nell Smith. Stephen graduated from Haverhill High School in 3 1/2 years and immediately enlisted in the United States Navy at age 17. Within a short time the Navy recognized Stephen's proclivity for languages and selected him for the Naval Enlisted Scientific Education Program that placed him at Vanderbilt University where he became proficient in Russian and Chinese. Steve graduated from Vanderbilt in three years with a BA in Linguistics Cum Laude. Steve...