Raymond Smith - SEAW Seattle President 1965, Life Member d. 1985

A native Washingtonian, Raymond Cascade Smith graduated from the University of Washington in the late 1920s, a member of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honorary. Ray's father had moved to Washington in connection with his work on the Great Northern Railroad, then married a Native American and homesteaded in the Cascade Mountains near Stevens Pass.

Ray worked for the Bureau of Reclamation during the 1930s on the Grand Coulee Project, both in the field directing survey crews and in the engineering office at the Dam. For a short while he had a consulting engineering practice in Eastern Washington, then moved to Seattle near the beginning of World War II, eventually settling in Everett. He served with the US Army Corps of Engineers during the War, heavily involved in wartime military construction in the Puget Sound area, specifically at Paine Field, Mukilteo, and Tulalip.

After the War he joined Cecil C. Arnold in a consulting practice as Cecil C. Arnold and Raymond C. Smith, Consulting Engineers. The firm had a number of bridge design assignments from various countries, designed several State ferry terminals, and in joint venture with another firm designed the first runway for the Navy at Ault Field on Whidbey Island. In the late 1950s the firm disbanded, and later Ray associated with Paul Delaney, Architect, in a practice that included several government building design assigments. Ray also had special expertise in the layout of railroad trackage for storage yard and switching systems.

Seriously injured in a 1966 automobile accident, Ray moved to East Wenatchee, where he lived with his wife and three daughters until his death.

Posted April 2012
Source Equlibrium June 1985

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