About the Author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Darrell Smith
Born in Oregon, Darrell grew up in the country surrounded by the outdoors, hard work, and a strong connection to the land. His ancestors came from Scotland and settled in the region after traveling by wagon train from Texas in 1849.
From an early age, Darrell learned the value of work and self-reliance. By the age of sixteen, he had already held a variety of jobs, from milking cows to working as a stock boy in a local lumberyard. Much of his youth was spent hunting and hiking the countryside, experiences that helped shape his lifelong appreciation for the outdoors and adventure.
After graduating from high school and attending a local community college, Darrell joined the United States Marine Corps, where he attained the rank of Sergeant and became an expert rifleman. After completing his military service, he returned to college, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Economics. Throughout his education and adult life, he has rarely been without a job, working everything from delivery driving to bartending while putting himself through college.
Darrell went on to build a 45-year career in the retail and wholesale lumber industry, developing particular expertise in wood preservation and the treatment of lumber with preservatives. His career took him throughout the South Pacific, where he spent considerable time selling and promoting treated wood in countries ranging from Japan to Tonga. He has also commercially logged Douglas fir and other Northwest species, lived and worked in Hawaii and Alaska, and contributed to projects ranging from milling operations to the construction of warehouses associated with the Alaska Pipeline. He currently works in operations for a local corporation.
His life experiences extend well beyond his professional career. Darrell has commercially dived in Pacific coastal bays, placing instruments on the ocean floor; rodeoed and team roped for years; hunted elk, deer, pigs in Hawaii, black bear, and numerous game birds; and explored the Northwest by snowmobile and on horseback. He has traveled extensively through wilderness areas, hiking, camping, fishing, and floating remote waterways throughout the Northwest. His diving experiences have taken him through the South Pacific, the Channel Islands, and as far north as the San Juan Islands of Canada. He has also participated in competitive shooting with pistols and shotguns, bow hunted, and fished wherever his travels took him.
Through all of these experiences, Darrell has developed a deep appreciation for life, family, faith, the outdoors, and the lessons learned along the way.
He is the father of six children, grandfather of nineteen grandchildren, and great-grandfather of two great-grandchildren.
Above all, Darrell considers himself blessed by the life he has lived, the people he has encountered, and the experiences that have shaped who he is today.