Stephen W. Smith,... enjoyed playing harmonica; at 84

Stephen W. Smith, 84, died peacefully on Feb. 5, 2024, after years of coronary disease. He was surrounded by his family.

Steve was born in Boston to Alice and Francis Smith and grew up in Plaistow. He is survived by his wife, Linda Marie Smith, nee Osterman. They married in 1975 and celebrated forty-eight years together.

He was preceded in death by his parents and by brothers Dana F. Smith and David B. Turner, sister Margaret Greenwood, brother-in-law Lewis Osterman, and sisters-in-law Sun Cha Smith and Nell Smith.

Stephen graduated from Haverhill High School in 3 1/2 years and immediately enlisted in the Navy at age 17. Within a short time the Navy recognized Stephen's proclivity for languages and selected him for the Naval Enlisted Scientific Education Program that placed him at Vanderbilt University where he became proficient in Russian and Chinese. Steve graduated from Vanderbilt in three years with a BA in Linguistics Cum Laude.

Steve had many duty stations while in the Navy. He was an officer on board the Saratoga CV 60 aircraft carrier and also the Aeolus which sailed the Arctic. He served three tours in Vietnam in many capacities, the last of which was as part of the Naval Inshore Undersea Warfare Group/Riverine forces.

Following his service in Vietnam Steve retired from his position as Navy Lieutenant and between 1969-1985 held positions of business development at Vanderbilt University, Indian Development Affairs (IDA) in Arizona, PBS stations KAET (Tempe, Arizona), KUED (Salt Lake City, Utah) and WGBY (Springfield, Massachusetts) as well as Hub Mail of Boston.

Steve loved technical things almost as much as he did languages and was an early adopter of personal computers. He founded Silver Lake Systems and as a Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) helped many businesses implement and manage their computer networks. After selling Silver Lake Systems, Steve worked for IBM, where he provided technical support to overseas companies, combining both his language talents and computer knowledge.

Throughout Stephen's life he connected with people using his sense of humor while regaling them with stories of his many adventures from worldwide travels as well as his love for all things USA. In humor he often used his alter-ego, Ajo Verde (which means green garlic in Spanish) and joked that he was named after his breath. Steve deeply treasured his time in Nashville at Vanderbilt University, including his experiences working at the Grand Ole Opry and reveling in bluegrass music. He will also be remembered for playing the balalaika, concertina and harmonica.

Those surviving are children Lars Jacobsen (Becky), Mette-Lisa Leavens (Ross), Laura M. Zraick, Theodore L. Smith (Megumi) and Miriam R.N. Smith-Sandhu (Anoop); grandchildren Matthew E. Jacobsen, Annelise Leavens, Lillian, Nova and Zachary Sandhu, nephew-sons Dennis Smith (Alison) and Andrew Smith; brothers Allison Turner (Michelle), William A. Turner (Chrystal) and Douglas Smith; sister Kristina Hebel (Frank), sister-in-law Karen Turner, brother-in-law John Osterman (Pam), sister-in-law Rose Kleidon (Dennis), sister-in-law Joan Osterman and many nieces, nephews, stepchildren and step-grandchildren. All were held dearly in his heart.