Page 40 - PGM Compendium

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Of

M⸫W⸫ Wayne I. Smith: 2007-2008

Most Worshipful Brother Wayne Irvine Smith was born to Ernest
and Helen Smith on 17 May 1939, in Portland, Oregon, where he
spent his formative years until seventh grade, when the Smith
family moved to the Oregon Coast. He attended junior high school
in Toledo (Oregon) and matriculated to Newport (Oregon) High
School. At the age of 16 he left high school to join the United
States Coast Guard. He served 22 years on active duty in the Coast
Guard, retiring in 1977 at the age of 38 at the rank of Lt.
Commander.

He began his Coast Guard career as an enlisted man, chipping
paint and cleaning bilges. Wayne served four of those enlisted
years as an instructor and Company Commander at the Coast
Guard Recruit Training Center, Alameda, California. After being promoted to Petty Officer First Class,
he was selected for the Officer Candidate program, graduating 6th in his class of 106.

Wayne had been trained in Naval Engineering, NBC Warfare defense, and Marine Inspection. He served
as the Engineer Officer onboard ship, and as Assistant Chief of Naval Engineering in Juneau, Alaska. In
Marine Inspection billets, he served as an Investigating Officer, Merchant Marine Licensing, and was
dual-qualified as both a Hull and Machinery Inspector. He was Resident Inspector for the three Portland,
Oregon, shipyards. His sea duty included tours on the Cutters Fir, Wachusett, Avoyel, Winona,
Northwind, and Diligence. In 22 years of service, he enjoyed every station where he was assigned, and
fondly recalled and utilized the experiences of his military career.

He completed high school via the GED program and attended Clackamas Community College in Oregon
City, where he studied agriculture. After retirement from the Coast Guard, Wayne and his family settled
in Hood River, Oregon, raising beef cattle on a small farm. He consulted for several steel fabricators in
the valley and was refrigeration engineer for a major fruit packing house. He held a number of offices in
Hood River’s American Legion Post 22, focusing on youth and family programs. Wayne was President
of the Parent Teachers Association and Cub Master for the Odell Cub Scout pack. In 1980 he accepted a
special assignment with Lockheed Shipbuilding Co. in Seattle, where he was a Test & Trials Engineer for
US Navy and Washington State Ferry system contracts. He was the Lockheed Project Coordinator for the
Navy’s Landing Ship Dock propulsion test system in Philadelphia for 2 years.

After successfully completing his assignment in Philadelphia, Wayne and his new family (wife Jan and
stepson Douglas) relocated from the East Coast to Whidbey Island. He continued with Lockheed
Shipbuilding until just prior to that company’s closure of its Seattle yard, when he joined the Washington

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