N. Joan Smith 87 of Des Moines
Natalie Joan Smith was born in Vista, California on April 29, 1926 to Meta Gertrude Frazee. Her father, Lewis Jenkinson Frazee had died making contact with a bare electric transmission wire over seven months before. Her mother was still in negotiations with San Diego Gas and Electric over compensation. $80,000 was asked for, $51,000 was awarded in court on March 4th, but the company appealed and threatened to fight on. On June 3rd, 1926 the two parties agreed on a compromise amount of $22,500. The family took in boarders to make ends meet until Joan's older brothers could help work the farm.
After graduating from Vista High School, she moved to a women's dormitory in Westwood to attend the University of California, Los Angeles , and remained there getting a job from the County social services department. A few years after, the Korean War started, and like her brothers, wanted to enlist so she became one of the 9000 members of the WAVES.
In 1955, after finishing her enlistment, she returned to Westwood where she met and married Richard Smith. The wedding took place on December 10th. She wore her grandmother's wedding dress and her brother Roderic walked her down the aisle, with niece Kathy as a junior bridesmaid and niece Peggy as a flower girl.
The young couple moved to the Seattle area where Joan died on February 17, 2014. She was predeceased by her husband, and both brothers. She is survived by nieces Kathy Kinley and Peggy Gregory, and nephew Steve Frazee.
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