Norman Dean Smith

May 11, 1933 - November 1, 2021

Norman Dean Smith, 88, passed away peacefully at his home in Fairfield on Monday, November 1, surrounded by his family. Norman was born in Rochester, IN on May 11, 1933 and was the only child of Lewis E. Smith and Grace A. Souder Smith. As an infant, he traveled with his parents and most of his extended family to California seeking a better life. Growing up, he had a newspaper route and saved enough money to purchase his first motorcycle, a 125cc Mustang. This was the beginning of his lifelong passion for motorcycle riding and racing. In 1952, he and his buddies formed the motorcycle group, The Mountaineers, which is still active to this day. Norman raced BSA motorcycles in various races in the AMA National Series from 1951 to 1956. During this time, Norman enlisted in the Army and became a helicopter mechanic and enrolled in college and became a mechanical engineer. He also married his beautiful wife, Jean, and had his first baby girl. He and Jean were blessed with two more daughters and a son, and Norman took an active role with all of them and especially enjoyed introducing them to motorcycles and riding with them. Many family vacations and events involved camping and riding motorcycles. In the 1970’s, they were active in the Solano Trial Riders Club in Fairfield. Norman made many close friends over the years. He was extremely generous and gave in many ways to his family, co-workers, veterans’ charities, motorcycle buddies and lifelong friends. He was always willing to help out someone in need and enjoyed mentoring others. He worked for Jennings Radio before becoming a mechanical engineer at Explosive Technology, which relocated from Santa Clara to Fairfield in 1965. In 1969, he was selected to serve as the lead engineer in designing explosive cabling for the Gemini separation project. This particular explosive cable was responsible for returning the spacecraft to Earth. He was very proud to have worked on a project that led to the first mission to the moon. In the early 1980’s, Norman left his engineering career and became a real estate investor. He continued with this career path for the remainder of his life. Norman was a loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather who enjoyed nothing more than spending time with his family. Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Jean; daughters, Melody Cox, Annette Cisneros, and April (Larry) DeMoss; son, Norman; and grandchildren, Shawn Smith, Jessica Rose, Dean and Jake DeMoss; and great-grandchild, Tyler Lertpaichaiyon. All will miss him greatly! Graveside services with Military Honors will be held at 1PM Thursday, November 18 at Rockville Cemetery, 4219 Suisun Valley Rd., Fairfield. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers contributions to the Wounded Warriors Project. Arrangements entrusted to the direction and care of Twin Chapels Mortuary, Vallejo (707) 552-6696. www.TwinChapelsMortuary.com