Education and exploration

Lolita Harper

She was a woman always looking for new adventures.

Beverly Smith, 74, was an avid explorer, with more than 20 cruises

logged in her travel book.

At a time when many married women were content as homemakers,

Beverly Smith expanded her horizons and studied computer programming.

Smith also spent time trekking around her Newport Beach

neighborhood, swimming the Newport Channel and going for long walks.

It was one of those walks that brought about her untimely death,

as she was hit by a truck Monday night in the 2400 block of Cliff

Drive while walking her dog Magic.

Her family choked back tears as they remembered their favorite

times with Smith, recollections that will live in their hearts

forever.

Smith, who was born in Pennsylvania, always had a smile on her

face, son Douglas Smith said. She was liked by many people and always

helped those close to her.

She cosigned on the family home in the 2400 block of Cliff Drive

in 1974, when her mother was trying to buy it solely with the income

of two retirees, Douglas Smith said.

Later, when it was her children that were looking to establish

homes of their own, Beverly Smith refinanced her house on Clubhouse

Road to invest in her son’s future.

“She did everything for me,” Douglas Smith said. “This is going to

be absolutely impossible to come to grips with.”

Marla Smith, his wife, said her mother-in-law encouraged her to go

back to school as an adult and get her college degree.

“She really supported the idea of women becoming professional and

independent, although she was married for 53 years,” Marla Smith

said.

Beverly Smith went back to school when her boys were teenagers to

learn the science of computer programming, family members said.

During her years as a “computer whiz,” she worked for the counties of

San Bernardino and Orange and worked at Newport Beach City Hall

between 1974 and 1980.

As she advanced in her profession, she started in business as a

computer analyst -- and had much success with it, Douglas Smith said.

As the year 2000 rolled around, and various government agencies were

worried about the computer glitches that would be caused, Beverly

Smith was flown to the nation’s capital to lend her expertise.

“She was one of the only people who was familiar with the ins and

outs of the old COBALT system,” Douglas Smith said.

Because Beverly Smith wanted her daughter-in-law to recognize the

liberation of having higher education, she heavily influenced Marla

Smith’s decision to enroll at UC Irvine. Upon graduating in 1999,

Beverly Smith sent her on a cruise as congratulations.

Douglas Smith at least had one very special last night to spend

with his mother before her death. On Sunday, he took his mother to

Margaritaville for dinner, where they shared a slow dance afterward.

“I told her how much I loved her but she knew, she knew everybody

loved her,” Douglas Smith said.