Maynard Elliot Smith

Smith, Maynard E., 93, July 11, 2009.  Arrangements by Berardinelli Family Funeral Service, Sante Fe, New Mexico.  Interment was held at Guaje Pines Cemetery, New Mexico.
    LOS ALAMOS, NM – Maynard Elliot Smith, a sixty year resident of Los Alamos, died Saturday, July 11, 2009. Maynard was born in Milton, Massachusetts in 1916.
    He attended Milton Academy and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ultimately earning a PhD. in inorganic chemistry.  During his high school and college days, his love of music, particularly jazz, motivated him to become proficient enough playing the trombone and bass to collaborate with other musicians in The Village Idiots, a band whose repertoire was influenced by the crazy antics of the Spike Jones band. In 1941, he married Frances Mahoney. Maynard, better known as Smitty to his colleagues, came to Los Alamos with his family in 1949. He worked in CMR as an analytical chemist until he retired in 1981.
    Smitty was an avid fly fisherman and a member of the Isaac Walton League. He and  Frances were active as teachers and officers in the International Folk Dancers Club. After retirement, they became members of the Los Alamos Geological Society, thus being transformed into rock hounds.  He and Frances delighted in searching for treasures on field trips, cutting, polishing and shaping rocks and minerals for jewelry and finding prime crystal specimens. Maynard particularly enjoyed building demonstrations, such as a machine showing the effects of fluorescent light on rocks and minerals, for the Los Alamos  Earth Treasure Show and the Albuquerque Gem and Mineral Show.
    Maynard was predeceased by his wife, Frances and his daughter, Patricia Randolph. He is survived by his daughter, Teresa Goodwin; granddaughter and husband, Shellby and Brent McGuire of Houlton, Maine; grandson and wife, Kerry and Carla Randolph of Phoenix, Arizona; grandson and fiancé, Caley Killoran and Cathy Craner of Phoenix, Arizona; and great-grand-children, Jordan and McKenzie McGuire, Allison and Makenna Randolph, and Bobbie Killoran.
    The memorial service was held Thursday, July 16, 2009, at the White Rock Baptist Church with interment at Guaje Pines. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in honor of Maynard E. Smith to one of the following organizations: White Rock Mesa Library, Los Alamos Hospice, or Los Alamos Visiting Nurses. Arrangements are under the direction of Berardinelli Family Funeral Service, 1399 Luisa Street, Santa Fe, NM 87505.