EDWARD GRANT SMITH
1965-2020
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me ( Jesus). There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you. So that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going” John 14: 1-4 NLT
Edward Grant Smith, 55, of Tehachapi, Calif., was greeted by his Lord Jesus Christ, healed of all pain and suffering and welcomed home to heaven after months of battle with GBM, an aggressive form of brain cancer, on Dec. 24, 2020 at his home in Newport Beach, Calif.
Edward, (known by many as Big Ed, Eddie, Ed, Sasquatch, Yeti) was born in Laguna Beach, Calif.
He was born as Baby Boy Gebhardt on March 31, 1965 and placed in care of the Children’s Home Society to be adopted by his loving, kind, fabulous parents Billy and Dorothy Smith, who he knew as Mom and Dad all the years of his life.
Ed enjoyed dirt bike racing in Anaheim, camping at Greenhorn Mountain and the Southern Sierras with his parents. Ed was a Villa Park High School football star in 1980-83. Owner of Grants Fence Co. in his early twenties and after years of floundering, he found and married the love of his life, Beverly A. Smith. He attended the California Highway Patrol academy and upon graduation was assigned to Santa Ana, Calif.
After the birth of his second son, he took his family to their home of 20 years in Tehachapi, Calif., where they lived and raised the boys until retirement in 2018. Ed enjoyed his time with the CHP as a road officer and Public Information Officer speaking with large groups, along with teaching the local teen driver through the Red Asphalt program.
During his career he has been highly respected by co-workers and clients for his kind and patient demeanor and could often be known to share the love of Christ in prayer and encouragement for those in need on the side of the road. Those who know Ed called him the Huell Howser of wherever he was. He was a walking textbook of useless information as he would claim. He also loved Explorers of the Mojave Desert, where you can still find a picture of his Grocery Getter Sticker on his patrol vehicle on their FB page.
At retirement, Ed and Bev sent off on the dream of their lives to RV across America. During this time, he had the opportunity to enjoy working as a driving instructor for BRAKES, a teenage driving safety program. Ed was diagnosed in March of 2020 with Glioblastoma.
Edward Grant Smith was preceded by:
(Adopted Parents) Billy Haywood and Dorothy (Chesnutt) Smith of Orange, Calif. Married Feb. 25, 1955 in Mississippi.
His birth mother Linda Gebhardt Behr. Survived by:
Wife, Beverly Ann Smith. Two sons, Wyatt Edward Smith and Logan Eugene Smith. Half-sister, Wendy Miller. Half-sister, Sarah Sarrezen Behr, and husband Roland Sarrezen (uncle Rolo). Half-brother, Patrick Behr (brother Bear) and wife Joanna ( Jo). Along with several nieces and nephews. And a lifetime of friends.
Services TBA.
In lieu of flowers, please send all donations to the Children Home Society of Orange County, any GBM foundation, Explorers of the Mojave Desert (XMD) page on FB, B.R.A.K.E.S. (Be Responsible Keep Everybody Safe) in the name of Edward G Smith.