Dr. Doris Smith

Dr. Doris Shackelford Smith passed away on Saturday morning, December 4, in San Rafael, California.

Dr. Doris Smith was born on October 21, 1932, in Leedey Oklahoma, to Elmer and Iona Shackelford. Elmer was a pastor with the Church of Christ, and also a talented carpenter who built the home that they lived in. Iona was a homemaker who also wrote notable children’s books. In high school, Doris was homecoming queen and a gifted student, graduating from high school at only sixteen years of age. At Oklahoma State, Doris was in the choir and home economics club. She met and married J.B. (“Jimmie Bob”) Smith at Oklahoma State when she was 17 and he was 21. She then followed J.B. for his various degrees, including his master’s at North Carolina State, and his doctorate at Cornell University. While at Cornell University, Doris completed her bachelor’s degree in home economics and received the highest GPA within her major. Doris, J.B., and their son, Greg, then moved to Honolulu, Hawaii when J.B. accepted a faculty position there. Two of Doris’ three children (Natalie, and Jennifer) were then born in Honolulu, Hawaii (her eldest son, Greg, was born in Ithaca, New York). Doris held a position at the University of Hawaii and simultaneously completed her Master of Science in Nutrition in January of 1969. She also published a paper “Anthropometry in Preschool Children in Hawaii” in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on July 7, 1970.

In 1972 the Smith family moved to Lafayette, California due to J.B.’s job relocation with Castle and Cook. Doris took a position within the office of the President at the University of California, running cooperative extension programs. As a person with both intellectual curiosity and capability, she took many courses at U.C. Berkeley within the department of education. Based on the quality of her work, faculty encouraged Doris to pursue a doctorate in education. Doris Smith then became Dr. Doris Smith in 1992 when she completed her doctoral thesis, titled “Academic Staff Attitudes Towards Program Evaluation in Nonformal Educational Systems” at U.C. Berkeley.

While at U.C. Berkeley – Doris became a huge fan of Cal, taking her family to many football games where we could all shout “Go Bears!”. Her daughters followed in her footsteps, with her now-deceased daughter, Dr. Natalie Smith, earning a master’s degree in public health at Cal and becoming the Chief of Immunization at the California Department of Health Services for the state of California; Natalie then continued her work as Deputy Director of the National Immunization Program for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before passing away at 41 due to lung cancer (Natalie earned her medical degree at UCLA Health). Her other daughter, Dr. Jennifer Walske, earned her doctorate in business at Boston University and has served as faculty and in leadership positions at both the Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley, and UCLA Anderson. It was a lovely turn of events for her daughter, Jennifer, to bring her mother to Cal games to once again shout “Go Bears”, as well as inviting her to lunch at U.C. Berkeley’s Women’s Faculty Club, which Jennifer joined at the behest of her mother.

Dr. Doris Smith was also a wonderful mother and grandmother. Her kindness, expert pie-baking skills, and wisdom were appreciated by all. Her generosity knew no bounds. She was a woman of strong faith and support of her church (the Church of Christ in Walnut Creek). Her faith was key to her own strength during her passing as it was for her son, Greg, in his recent passing, last July due to lung cancer. In fact, Greg Smith, a successful businessman, rising to the ranks of general manager at Audi, VW, ADP and CDK, was also a bassist in a Christian rock band on the side, writing a song still available on Spotify known as The Mountain by the band Firmly Rooted.

At the time of her passing, she was surrounded by her family, including her grandchildren. Her last full sentence was: “I love you all; I feel loved”. She is survived by her brother, Dr. Don Shackelford, her daughter, Dr. Jennifer Walske (and her husband Steve Walske), and her many grandchildren, Jason Smith, Laura Losicki, Maya Schechter, Jared Walske, Amelia Walske, Savannah Walske, Blake Weatherhead and Spencer Weatherhead, as well as her greatgrandchildren, nieces, and nephews. She will be joined in the next realm with her late husband, Dr. J.B. Smith, her parents, Iona and Elmer Shackelford, and her children, Greg Smith (survived by Sue Weatherhead) and Dr. Natalie Smith (survived by Dr. Rob Schechter).

In lieu of gifts please give to the Opportunity Camp or U.C. Berkeley’s scholarship fund through the following links. Opportunity Camp (https://www.opportunitycamp.org/donate) and UC Berkeley’s Fiat Lux Scholarship Fund ( https:// give.berkeley.edu/fund/ FL0504000).

A service will be held on Monday, December 20th at noon, at the Kit Stewart Chapel at Calvary Presbyterian, located at 2515 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, and will be live streamed as well. A reception will follow. For more information on the service, or to post tributes, please visit https://www. mykeeper.com/profile/ DorisSmith/.