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SALT LAKE CITY A missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died in a car crash in Arkansas Thursday, church officials said Friday.
Elder Jake Smith, 19, of Lehi, was with three other missionaries when they got into a car crash near Rosebud, Arkansas.
Smith and three passengers were southbound on Arkansas State Highway 5 when a woman crossed the center line and collided with the driver s side, a local Arkansas news outlet reported.
Smith, who had been serving as a missionary since August of 2019, died from his injuries. The three other missionaries in the car were injured in the crash.
Deseret News
Missionary from Utah who died in Arkansas was ‘doing what he wanted to be doing’
Three other missionaries were injured when an SUV swerved into their car. One missionary, also from Utah, remains hospitalized with serious injuries
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Smith family
A talkative, outgoing missionary from Lehi died instantly Thursday night when the vehicle he and three other missionaries were traveling in crashed in Arkansas, according to a family friend and a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Elder Jake Smith, 19, a 2019 graduate of Skyridge High School and member of the school’s mountain bike racing team, had been serving in the Arkansas Little Rock Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since August 2019.
Three other missionaries injured, including two from the Beehive State.
(Courtesy photo)
Jake Smith, a 19-year-old Latter-day Saint missionary from Lehi was killed in an automobile accident in Arkansas on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2021.
| Jan. 8, 2021, 6:29 p.m.
A 19-year-old Utahn died Thursday after a car accident while serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arkansas.
Jake Smith, who had been in the Little Rock Mission since August 2019, was “a bright, happy, cheerful young man,” Bryan Atwood, the man’s LDS stake (regional) president in Lehi, said Friday. “He was the life of the party and a great storyteller.”