Dan Smedley Obituary

Dan H. Smedley, father of Mike Smedley, died Wednesday morning, June 28, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was 91 years old. While his death certificate will go in to great detail about this terminal condition causing this fatal condition, Dad's passing was due to being 91 years old. These things happen.

Dad relished his visits to Durango, where looked forward to nursing a scotch on the rocks while riding to Silverton in the narrow-gauge railroad's Parlor Car. Not that Dad particularly liked watery scotch. He undoubtedly enjoyed the fact that there was no one from Utah around to see him sip his yearly intinerant cocktail.

Despite living in the Salt Lake valley for most of his life and becoming increasingly reclusive, Dad encouraged travel and outdoor exploration. He was a longtime Scoutmaster, a fan of wild butterflies and even backpacked up until the time that he realized that traipsing through the woods with a heavy rucksack is far less enjoyable in one's early 60s than it was in one's early 40s.

The best (or worse) advice Dad gave to his younger son came in the form of a rhetorical question: "If not there, where? And if not now, when?" This was in response to the Durango Herald's job offer to Mike in 1984. Therefore, we can blame it all on Dad.

In WWII, he fought as a U.S. Army second lieutenant in the Philippines. He was immensely proud of his service but rarely talked about it, despite the fact that this experience shaped his life and his thinking for the next 70 years.

In lieu of flowers or cards, please thank a veteran for his or her service. Or take a kid fishing or camping. Plant a garden or donate to Durango Botanical Society. Write a check to organizations that care for the elderly or help the less fortunate. Hug those you love and forgive those you don't.

Dan H. Smedley is survived by sons Mike Smedley of Durango (along with Mike's wife Amy Wendland) and Matt Smedley and his wife, Julie, of West Valley City, Utah; and an extended family from his second marriage. A private family memorial was held in which his ashes were scattered in the Wasatch Mountains.