Mary (Maribee) Smith
March 25, 1926-April 28, 2024
Kelowna, B.C., Canada

SMITH, MARY “Maribee" 1926 - 2024

Maribee was born Mary Beatrice Smith to William and Katherine Allman in 1926 in Vancouver, Canada.

She was married to Geoffrey Oswald Smith. They immigrated to the United States in the early sixties. She became an American citizen in 1968, and later regained her Canadian citizenship, to become a dual citizen.

Following a divorce, she returned to college at Berkeley, trained as a teacher and began a career in education, teaching in the San Mateo Union High School District. She resided in Palo Alto for 50 years. Maribee did some overseas teaching ESL in Korea and the U.A.E.

California sunshine inspired an interest in sports and the outdoors, which Maribee indulged in by bike riding into her late 80’s. Travel was also an interest, especially to tropical locations for scuba diving and underwater photography.

Following retirement in 1995, she volunteered with the Ravenswood Education Foundation, specifically with the Science Initiative, which helps students prepare to enter high school with both knowledge and lab skills. She had an intense interest in helping challenged students in the early grades obtain the skills necessary to go on to high school, graduate, and build successful futures. This lead to individual tutoring and also participating in a Diabetes Camp program for children.

She leaves special people in California, North Carolina, Massachusetts, as well as Canada and South Korea.

Tags: teacher/educator