Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Victor Herbert Smith, son, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, passed April 12 in Bothell, Washington. He was born Aug. 1, 1925 to Herbert Levi Smith and Paulina Catherine Stefan in Lewistown, Montana.
Victor grew up in Benchland, Montana, now largely a ghost town, where his father managed the grain silo, and his mother was the town’s mayor and postmistress. His father’s job shielded them from the worst effects of the Depression and, as an only child, he was doted on by both parents. He enjoyed the hunting and fishing that was so accessible in rural Montana and the stimulating cultural influences of his New York City-born mother. Victor excelled in school, but on his 18th birthday, he heeded the call of a nation at war and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served in the Pacific Theater as a radioman while assisting naval intelligence. After months spent with headphones listening for Japanese submarines and coded messages, he was left with a s