South Tahoe High School staff, friends recall Sgt. Timothy M. Smith

Army Sgt. Timothy M. Smith, a 2001 South Tahoe High School graduate, died Monday in Baghdad, Iraq.

According to an Army news release, Smith was killed when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device while conducting a route clearance patrol.

On Wednesday, STHS staff and friends fondly recalled their time with the South Lake Tahoe resident.

Irma Salazar, now a campus security guard at STHS, remembered Smith well. The two graduated together from the school in 2001 and were good friends.

Salazar recalled Smith as a good-natured teenager, “the class clown” who liked to skateboard and always was up to having fun with students and faculty.

“He got along with everybody and was very social with everybody. He was a real people person,” Salazar said, recalling how the pair periodically goofed off.

She remembers, for instance, the time she carried Smith in her arms to class.
“We laughed the whole time,” she said.

Dee Petrell, a STHS workability job developer, recalled Smith as a “very nice young man” who gently blended courtesy with a genuine sense of humor.

As a paraprofessional educator at STHS, Eleanor Heckendorm worked with Smith for three years at the high school and also knew him when she worked at the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe.

“He was a real sweetheart,” Petrell said. “He would give everyone hugs when he’d see them. He was a loving person with a big heart.”

She said Smith was “an incredible young man, full of life and energy. He could make you smile. He could make you laugh, and sometimes he could make you angry. He was a just a great all-around kid.”

Smith joined the Army in April 2004 and completed basic and advanced individual training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., according to the Public Affairs Office at Fort Drum, N.Y., 10th Mountain Division.

Smith was assigned to Fort Polk, La., in September 2004. He previously deployed with his unit to Afghanistan from March to November 2006 and deployed to Iraq last November. His military education included the Warrior Leader Course, Combat Lifesaver Course and Alcohol and Drug Abuse Team Course, according to Fort Drum.

Fort Drum listed Smith’s awards as the Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, NATO Medal and the Combat Action Badge.

Smith is survived by his wife and son, who are both of Fort Polk, La.; his father, of Reno; his mother, Patricia, of South Lake Tahoe, who is an employee at Barton Memorial Hospital; and his brother Tom and sister Jackie. Family members could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Smith is the second area soldier to die in the Iraq war.

On Oct. 9, 2006, Pfc. Phillip Brandon Williams was killed by a sniper’s bullet in Iraq. Williams was the first military casualty of the war with ties to Lake Tahoe. He was the son of Sgt. Brad Williams of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department and Lisa Hall of Carson Valley.

— Staff writer Adam Jensen and Editor Paul Dunn contributed to this report.

Fund set up for soldier’s family A bank account for the immediate family of Sgt. Timothy Smith has been set up at the South Lake Tahoe branch of Bank of the West, 2161 Lake Tahoe Blvd. Checks can be made payable to the “Timothy Smith Family Fund” and will be used to pay expenses. Tahoe Family Physicians also is organizing volunteers who would like to prepare meals for the Smith family over the next month. To volunteer, call 543-5660.