Obituary

Barbara Jule Smith

July 14, 1935 - July 13, 2024 - Age 88 + 364 Days

 Barbara Jule, as she was called by her parents, Beryl & Charles Cracknell, was born on July 14, 1935.  She was the younger of two daughters and never denied being the most spoiled, much to her older sister, Marylyn’s dismay.  Having grown up in Lomita, California, Barbara didn’t venture far from home when it came time to go to college.  She moved in with her grandfather, who owned a home in Riverside.  While there, she attended the University of Riverside, where she received a degree in Liberal arts and, along with 19 other students, became the first graduating class in 1957.  During college, she was voted the first-ever homecoming queen for Cal Poly Pomona.  At the time, they had not yet enrolled female students and, therefore, had to borrow some from neighboring UCR. 

Barbara was always quite popular due to her friendly and outgoing personality. In mid-1957, one fun-loving couple she went bowling with introduced her to a newly recruited Air Force Lieutenant named Theodore Addison Smith.  Nine months later, when Ted, as he was nicknamed, got orders to report for duty in Iceland, he proposed to Barbara, and the two wed on March 3rd, 1958, at Riverside’s Presbyterian Church.  Barbara began her teaching career on base in Reykjavik, Iceland, and on holiday breaks, the two were seen jet-setting around Europe.  After returning to the States, Barbara gave birth to a daughter, Cheryl Lynn, on November 13, 1960, and two years later, while Ted navigated the unfriendly skies of Vietnam, she went into labor and gave birth to Theodore Randall, nicknamed Randy.  Barbara juggled motherhood seamlessly while maintaining a full-time teaching position at Mather Heights Air Force Base. 

An animal lover, Barbara collected many cats, dogs, goldfish, hamsters, and two rats in her lifetime, most of which have been stored in little cedar wood boxes throughout her home.  In 1967, the family moved to Riverside, California, where Ted enjoyed a long career at March Air Force Base, and Barbara continued teaching throughout her lengthy career in the Riverside Unified School District.   With a rather spirited nature and love for adventure, Barbara made many friends along the way.  In January 2000, she buried Ted at the age of 66 due to mouth-throat Cancer at Riverside Arlington Cemetery. 

In September of 2008, stage IV Melanoma Cancer had UCLA doctors giving Barbara a three-month to-live prognosis.  However, doctors didn’t know just how tenacious she was. With a little help from her daughter, Cheryl (nicknamed Barbara Smith’s Piranha daughter by the UCLA hospital staff), Barbara had a Whipple operation, followed by six brain Cancer surgeries, two strokes, and several bouts of radiation throughout the next nearly sixteen years.  She neither complained nor let it slow her down and went back to teaching, traveled the world with dear friends, made many new friends en route, never missed a weekly stained-glass class, moved twice, saw her three granddaughters and one step-grandson marry, watched six grandchildren enter the world, and thoroughly enjoyed life.  In short, Barbara never sat still, and even until December 2023, she walked her little dog, Abby, daily at the Dana Point Harbor while feeding as many squirrels and bunnies as humanly possible despite threats by harbor security to stop.  Her friends and family will forever remember Barbara for her quick-witted sense of humor and abundant generosity.  While doctors may not have been able to figure out how she managed to cheat death for so many years (she was a research patient for both UCLA and USD medical centers during her Cancer battles), some say she had a life for every cat she rescued but her family credits FOMO (fear of missing out) for her refusal to slip away.  She fought fearlessly till the bitter end when liver failure stemming from the Whipple surgery she’d had sixteen years earlier finally took her away from us. We will miss her bright light terribly until we are one day together again.

Barbara is survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Marylyn & Marvin Ruebel; her daughter and son-in-law, Cheryl and Rich Gale; son and daughter-in-law, Randy & Debbie Smith; grandchildren, Nicole & husband, David Billings, Ashley Kaya, Jillian & husband, Adam Levy, step-grandchildren, Brandon & wife, Jody Gale, and Dylan Gale; Great-grandchildren, Hudson & Addison Billings, Weston Kaya, Madelyn Levy, and Ethan & Rowan Gale along with her miniature Shih-Tzu, Abby. 

A life celebration in Barbara’s honor will be held on Friday, August 9th, 2024, at the “Chapel of Orange,” 215 N. Grand Street, Orange, CA 92886, beginning precisely at 11 a.m. with a luncheon to follow.

Please RSVP to Cheryl Gale (949) 338-8718 or email at cherylrobertsgale@gmail.com by August 2nd to confirm your attendance.

In lieu of flowers, please consider planting a tree in Barbara’s name or donating to the Melanoma Cancer Research Center.