John David Smashey

Born November 10, 1951, in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Sacramento, California, John passed away at age 71 at home in Hospice on May 15, 2023, from cancer. Drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War, John completed his service, and spent his young adult years hitchhiking around the U.S., returning to Sacramento in the early 1980’s, prior to his mother’s death. He also returned to college, where he completed an Associate of Arts degree in Social Science in 1980, from American River College, and another Associate in Arts degree in 1984, in Mathematics and Science from Sacramento City College.

In 1987, prior to accepting a permanent job as a Clerk II with the County of Sacramento, where he worked for approximately 18 years, John completed firefighter training in Oroville, California.

After retiring from the County of Sacramento, John returned to Sacramento City College and earned an Associate of Science degree in Computer Science-Web Developer, a Certificate of Achievement for Web Production Specialist, and a Certificate of Achievement for Front-End Web Developer in 2020.

He worked as a Student Assistant at Caltrans, Local Assistance, from 2019-2020, where he discovered his true passion for coding and creating accessible websites and documents/forms to assist persons with disabilities. He was the owner of Sacto Web Designs, and was in the process of launching his business website when he became ill in November 2022.

John was a lifelong student of the world. He was fascinated by Greek mythology, Roman history, religion, UFO’s, dinosaurs, Bigfoot, space exploration, computer technology, and science. He was also an expert handyman and master carpenter who could fix or build anything. He was an excellent cook and enjoyed hiking and landscaping. He was never too busy to help a friend in need or to lecture young people on the importance of education. He cared deeply about the environment, politics, and animal welfare issues.

John is preceded in death by his father, Floyd, mother, Gladys, stepmother, Sonya, and sister Janet Schepps. He is survived by his sister, Anne, Kathey, his close friend of 37 years, his stepsisters, Sandra and Lee, his nephew, Bryan, dear friends, and his beloved cats, Lilly, Baby, and shared cat Little One.

Graveside services will be held on June 30, at Camellia Memorial Lawn (10221 Jackson Road, Sacramento, CA 95827) at 1:00PM. In lieu of flowers, John requested that donations be made instead to the SPCA to help animals in our community. The family wishes to thank Dr. Todd Winters, Dr. Janelle Minter, Kaiser Hospice, South Sacramento Kaiser Oncology, and the South Sacramento Cancer Center, for their assistance with John’s care.