Anchorage Daily News April 9, 2002

Palmer resident NATHAN O. SMITH, 81, died April 5, 2002, at home after a long illness. A funeral was held at Kehl's Palmer Mortuary, with a visitation. Burial was at Palmer Pioneer Cemetery. The Rev. Bob Lee officiated.

Mr. Smith was born May 1, 1920, at the family home in Palmer, to Theron and Martha Smith. An Alaska pioneer, he lived most of his life on the Smith family property in north Palmer. He was married for 52 years to Dorothy Grace Smith. Mr. Smith worked in the construction industry as a heavy equipment mechanic, helping build roads into Denali and highways in Alaska. He served honorably in the U.S. Air Force during World War II and participated in the American Theater in the Aleutians. He was awarded the bronze star. Mr. Smith was an active ham radio operator whose call letters KL7DJE were heard around the world. He provided critical communications during the 1964 earthquake and support communications for climbers on Denali and mushers in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He participated in the MARS network. He was very active on the Snipers NET and Motley NET and in maintaining ham radio communications in Alaska. The love for his hobby meant many hours spent at his radio desk, through which he met his closest friends. He has received the last call: ''Nate, come up from that ham shack! KL7DJE 73, thanks for the contacts,'' his family wrote. (The number 73 signifies warm regards among ham operators.) Mr. Smith was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy; brothers, Robert and James Smith; sisters, Grace Dahl and Alice Williams; and daughter, Sandra Lee Daniel.

He is survived by his daughters and their husbands, Vicki and Bill Pedersen and Jackie and Dan Corey; grandchildren and spouses, Kevin and Jamie Koslosky, Cindy and Gordon Richmond, Laurie and Murel Kidd, Terri Corey, Amber Daniel and Billy Daniel; brother, Theron Smith Jr.; sisters, Nancy Still, Pearl Hughes, Pat Pitcher, Shirley Hislop and Sarah Kazashorov; great-grandchildren, Alexis, Cully, Cassie, Caity, KayLee, Derek and Coree. Arrangements were by Kehl's Forest Lawn Mortuary and Crematory.