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Deceased Classmate: Rory Mitchell Smith
Date of Birth: Born in Ireland on November 26, 1954
Date Deceased: March 15, 2012
Age at Death: 57
Classmate City: Westchester
Classmate State: California
Classmate Country: USA
Survived By: His brother, Marty Smith of Oceanside, California
He had a great love of books, old movies, running 10k's, marathons and the telling of "bad jokes."
His greatest love was of his friends.
His wishes were to be cremated and his ashes scattered on San Vicente and 7th Street, which was the gathering place for track and cross country workouts during his years at St. Monica's.
Click on the link at the bottom of this page to see his memorial book photo and poem.
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Dwight LeDuff
Rory Smith played a major role in my family's life for more than the past decade. He lived walking distance from my house and spent countless amounts of time with us. With no kids of his own, he was able to help me out at the drop of a hat with anything from math tutoring of my two girls to his best advice on who should be running this country. He always enjoyed evening meals with us and loved to surprise us with some extravagant desert afterwards. With his sudden passing, this past March, there is now a void in our home. He was a great friend. We still expect to see him walking up the driveway. He will always be remembered as part of our family. Love you Rory. Dwight, Patti, Lindsay & Kaleigh
Deborah Hile (Saenz)
Each time I think of Rory, I smile a big smile! I thought his jokes were off the wall, sorry Rory, BUT, I always loved to hear him tell them. He had such a way with telling a story or a joke. I will miss his warm smile and gentle voice. To tell you the truth, I always believed Rory had a little "Leprechaun" in him!
Theresa McDonald
It was several years ago that the phone rang one evening and I picked it up to hear Rory at the other end. Over the years we chatted several times a year. It has been a long time since one of those chats, and the phone number I had no longer worked. I just looked through the Summer 2012 issue of Ancient Mariner and found out why. Rory's jokes could always make me laugh, and that is one of the things I will remember about him. Also his kind and gentle heart and his love of cats. I miss you Rory. I wish we could chat just one more time. Theresa
Jonathan Klune
Rory was one of my closest friends in high school. During the summer vacation in 1971 Rory, Andy Dunivan and I went to Europe for 2 months. We travelled with our Eurail Pass. We actually flew on a charter airlines flight from LAX to Shannon airport in Ireland. All 3 of us stayed the first 2 weeks at his aunt & uncle's house. We were served beer, legally in the Pubs. We learned how to walk on the wrong side of the street. We ate fish & chips too.
We all took the hoovercraft ship across to Liverpool and a passenger ship to France and visited his other uncle in Antwerp, Belgium. We went to 5 or 6 more countries before flying back home. What memories we had and sadly Rory can no longer reminisce the personal times we shared in Europe. After high school I enlisted in the Navy and never really saw much of Rory until the 20th reunion. I missed the 30th & 40th reunions.
Most of our classmates didn't understand him when he talked to them. He always tried to fit into everyone's conversations but the volume of his voice was often too low to understand. I hung out with him after school and I understood him. He would always hold up a pointer finger and quote an IRA catch-phrase that noboby was familar with and then giggle.
That is all I wanted to say to all who read this memories page. He was part of my life.
Gary Nitti
Jack Farrell sent me on my first "long run" in high school with him (5 miles on San Vicente) - I think I stopped twice. I asked him at the end if he thought I would be any good at this, and he basically said not to give it up - got to keep trying. Maybe if he had told me anything different I would have stopped and be a different person today. Thanks Rory.