John Carlton Smith

Jack was born on July 15, 1942, in Trenton, New Jersey, son of Lester and Margaret Smith, who were loving parents, active members of their community, and avid card players. Lester was deployed during WWII for the first years of Jack’s life. His mother was pleased when Lester was granted a home leave which laid the foundation for a sister to join Jack. The family enjoyed summer trips to Lavallette on the Jersey Shore. Jack’s first job at 13 years of age was pumping gas at the family’s service station in Lawrenceville Township. Jack was awarded an academic scholarship to the Hun School of Princeton New Jersey for high school. He went on to attain his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem Pennsylvania. Later he completed a Juris Doctorate at Lewis and Clark College of Portland Oregon, passing the Bar Exams and joining both the Washington State and the Oregon State Bar Associations.

He is survived by his daughter, Jennifer (Darin), grandson, Emory, and sister, Margaret (William). He was predeceased by his parents.

Jack went to work as an industrial engineer after graduating from Lehigh. He worked for Alcoa in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania until they transferred him out west to Portland Oregon. After he had been with Alcoa for 10 years, they wanted to relocate him again, this time to Texas. In response, he quit and went on to pursue his law degree. After completing his law degree, he found himself as an industrial engineer working for the Department of Defense working for their Defense Contract Management Agency. In addition to his regular duties, Jack formed a union, was a union representative, and was the Equal Employment Opportunity coordinator. After serving for 21 years in the Department of Defense, Jack retired.

Jack was a peace advocate while working for the Department of Defense. He balanced things out by volunteering, fundraising, writing letters, and even marched against the wars in the streets. Jack was very active in politics; he never ran for office, but he was instrumental in working for the election of a number of candidates. After retirement he was free to participate in activism. In 2011 Jack was arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York with Occupy Wall Street. He went on to be arrested two more times, in 2012 in Bangor Washington with a group of activists near the nuclear storage facility, and in 2015 at the Seattle Port Commission opposing Shell Arctic Drilling and the drilling rig they had berthed in Puget Sound.

Jack was passionate about social justice and human rights. He spent much of his free time fighting for causes ranging from climate change, war, abortion, the death penalty, death with dignity, cannabis, policing, income inequality, healthcare, Medicare, housing, senior issues, and so much more. Jack traveled to El Salvador as an election observer for their first free elections in 1994. He was also able to join humanitarian observer delegations to both Gaza and Cuba.

Jack was married twice. He had a son with his first wife, Drew. Drew was adopted by his mother’s husband, and Jack and his second wife welcomed a daughter, Jennifer. Jennifer was Jack’s second chance and the love of his life. He was an incredible single father, raising his daughter on his own with the help of the vast community he built.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made in Memory of Jack Smith to the American Civil Liberties Union. Aclu.org