Obituary of Kenneth Arthur Smith

Kenneth A. Smith, 90, who retired from the Army Corps of Engineers after an earlier career selling office equipment, died Feb. 23 at Inova Loudoun Hospital. He had kidney failure, according to his son, Tim Smith. Kenneth Arthur Smith was born in Dunkirk, N.Y., and served in the Marine Corps in the Pacific theater during World War II. He came to Washington after the war to work for the old Veterans Administration before becoming a regional salesman of copying machines and office equipment. In the 1970s, he became a facilities engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Belvoir. He retired in 1984. Mr. Smith was a former resident of Temple Hills and a member of Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillcrest Heights. After moving to Sterling in the early 1990s, he joined St. Joseph Catholic Church in Herndon, where he volunteered with programs for the elderly and infirm. He was a past commander of Post No. 1 in Washington, the nation's first American Legion post. He was also a volunteer election worker and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Catholic War Veterans. Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Rose Elizabeth "Betty" Callan Smith of Sterling; two children, Tim Smith of Baltimore and Claire Smith of Sterling; and a grandson. A son, the Rev. Michael A. Smith, a Catholic priest, died in 2000.