Residents ofCupertino

On October 25, 2024, Strether Smith joined Tomasina (Tommi) Smith to begin their adventures in the afterlife.

They met in September 1980 and were joined at the hip until her death 43 years later.

During that period, they skied, biked, and hiked the country’s and much of the world's most beautiful areas but soon learned that the best part was in the Santa Cruz Mountains near their Cupertino home.

Tommi was born in Portland and moved to the Bay Area with her first husband, Gary Cummings. They had three children before divorcing in 1979. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science at San Jose State and her MBA from Pepperdine. She worked at Electric Power Institute (EPRI) rising from a secretarial position to Manager of Contracts.

Strether grew up in Ithaca NY where he attended Cornell University and earned his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering. He moved to Bay area to attend Stanford and to meet his first wife, Joan Gachina. They had two children before divorcing. Most of his career was spent at the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Lab in two 12-year periods. In the first, he did materials and structural testing and developed a reputation as a structural-dynamic-testing guru. In the second stint, he used the skills to lead the development of two families of large-scale data acquisition systems for structural-dynamic testing that are best remembered by their acronyms: ARDVARC, PIRANHA, and MAD- DAWG.

Their combined families are made up of children: Vincent Cummings, Joan Cummings, Cecile Cummings, Shannon Smith-Mees and Scott Smith and grandchildren: Chayla Cummings-Ricks, Alexis (Lexi) Smith, Angela Cummings-Ingram, and Audrey Mees. They are an amazing hodge-podge and good representatives for their parents.

In the early 1990’s Strether and Tommi started volunteering for the Midpeninsula Open Space District (MidPen). They started with the kid’s program: Spaces and Species where they introduced nature to 3rd-5th graders. Two years later they took the docent training and started a career of co-leading hikes. Strether also led mountain bike rides in the early years of that sport. Strether was given the “Spark Plug” after the first year, and they shared the “Decent Docent” award a year later. Their love for and activities in the MidPen Preserves continued until their deaths.

Contributions in their memory should be sent to the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) 222 High Street. Palo Alto, CA 94301