Charlotte McDonald Smith - 1928 - 2019

“Your love will always live in our hearts”
Our beloved Charlotte McDonald Smith, 90, died peacefully April 12, 2019, of age-related causes. She was born October 20, 1928, in Redmond, Oregon, the second of three daughters to Warren Thomas, a county extension agent, and Cecile Spooner McDonald, a physics teacher. The family moved to Eugene, Portland and then to a farm in Yamhill, Oregon, where Charlotte graduated high school in 1946. In her youth, she enjoyed horses, helping her dad on the farm and performing in plays. Charlotte joined the Lambda Lambda Sigma sorority at Linfield College in McMinnville, graduating in 1950 with a major in physical education and a minor in home economics. She had two children, Druscilla and Eric, with her first husband, Eugene Knopf, and two children, Craig and Rebecca, with her husband Gerald Martin (Jerry) Smith. Charlotte taught health and PE and coached volleyball at Willamina High School. She served as an employment counselor for the Oregon State Employment Service in McMinnville, Corvallis and in Lincoln County. The family also lived in Greeley, Colorado, Cincinnati, Ohio, Beaverton’s Oak Hills and on a 37-acre farm in Hillsboro, where Charlotte grew and preserved food and helped run the family’s Trestle Christmas Tree Farm. She also worked in retail, at PCC’s Rock Creek Campus, at the OHSU Hospital gift shop and was co-owner/operator of Saucy’s Pizza franchise in Hillsboro. Upon Jerry’s retirement as Associate Director for Research and Training at OHSU’s CDRC, the couple moved to Puget Island near Cathlamet, Washington, McMinnville, and finally to Eugene in 2013.
Charlotte was a loving, devoted and supportive person who cherished her relationships with God, family and friends. She was a consummate homemaker, gracious hostess and engaged mother, leading 4-H, Brownies, Campfire Girls, and Cub Scouts. She was a lover of beauty, gardening, sewing, reading, music and art, a stylish dresser, as well as an avid sports fan (Rip City and Go Wildcats!) She was a fun-loving game and card shark, golfer, square dancer and even belly dancer! In the wider community, Charlotte fostered women’s higher education funding as a longtime member of P.E.O. (Chapters DB, FK, DO and AY), was involved in many churches, was a member of the Mary Lee Singers, OHSU Faculty Wives and Beyond War, and volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. As first mate to Captain Jerry, Charlotte enjoyed many years of boat and motorhome travel. With family and friends, she loved snowbirding to Surprise, Arizona, making memories at the Alsea Riverhouse and traveling around the world.

Thanks to the staff at Fox Hollow Residential Care Community and to Bristol Hospice-Eugene for their loving care and attention to Charlotte in her last months of life.
Charlotte is survived by her husband of nearly 60 years, Jerry Smith, Eugene; daughter, Dru Spitzer (Jim), Longview, Washington; son, Eric (Alice), Medford, Oregon; son, Craig (Meg Stalnaker), Portland Oregon; and daughter, Becky (Chris Orsinger), Eugene; 10 beloved grandchildren; four precious great-grandchildren; and sister, Janet Baker, Carlton Oregon. Sister Kathryn Schrepel predeceased her. Charlotte is interred at Bethany Presbyterian Cemetery. Arrangements by Sunset Hills Funeral Home, Eugene. Please don brightly colored garb and join us for Charlotte’s Celebration of Life Memorial at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, June 8, 2019, at Bethany Presbyterian Church, 15505 N.W. Springville Rd, Portland, OR 97229. Following a reception at the church, family and friends are invited to share more memories and festivities from 3:30 until 8:00 p.m. at McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, 4045 N.E. Cornelius Pass Rd., Hillsboro, OR 97124.
Offerings in Charlotte's memory are welcome to:
Linfield College General Endowment Scholarship Fund. Send to Linfield College, 900 S.E. Baker St., McMinnville OR 97128, or
P.E.O. Oregon State Chapter Charitable Trust. Send to Chapter AY, 821 Spyglass Dr., Eugene, OR 97401.