**Carl Clyde Smith (Eliyahu Ben Yahuah)**  

December 10, 1954 – November 20, 2025  

Carl Clyde Smith, known in his later years as Eliyahu Ben YHWH, passed peacefully from this life on November 20, 2025, in Corvallis, Oregon, surrounded by the love of his daughter Amber, her wife Anne,  and his sister, Sheryl.

Born December 10, 1954, in San Antonio, Texas, Carl lived an adventurous and challenged life marked by hard work, fierce independence, and an unquenchable curiosity about Spirituality.

In his younger years, Carl followed his father Arthur Moore Smith to the wild frontiers of Alaska, where together they helped build the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and offshore drilling rigs on the Kenai Peninsula. The vast wilderness shaped him—he hunted caribou and moose across the tundra, pulled crab and shrimp pots from the icy waters of Kachemak Bay, and dip netted and fished for salmon and halibut under the midnight sun.

Carl married and divorced Sherri Hawki. Together they lived in Kenai AK and had four children, Christina, Amber, Matthew, and Joshua.

In 1989 he moved to Minnesota at the invitation of his sister Sheryl, beginning a long career at the Hennepin County Energy Recovery Center from which he retired after years of dedicated service. His ex-wife, Sherry, and youngest son, Joshua, were killed in a drunk driving accident. He relocated his surviving children, Christina, Matthew, and Amber to Buffalo, MN.

Carl / Eli was a man who could learn, build, or fix almost anything. Carl taught himself Hebrew, played soulful self taught melodies on his ukulele, restored bicycles and laptops with equal passion, and explored the spiritual traditions of his Choctaw heritage. Whether roaring down desert highways on his Harley, cruising in his Pontiac muscle car, or finding peace along the Colorado River in Parker, Arizona, Carl lived life on his own terms.

Carl was preceded in death by his ex-wife Sherri Smith, beloved son Joshua Smith; his granddaughters Alice and Mabel Smith, his nephew Tyler Hill; his niece Rachel Baty; his mother Frances Beatrice Smith; and his father Arthur Moore Smith.

He is survived by  

- his children: Chris Smith (Sharla), Amber Smith (Anne), Matt Smith (Marcy);  

- his cherished grandsons Joshua and Finn Smith;  

- his sisters Sheryl Hill (Allen) and their son Alec; Bonnie Hoh (Michael), her son Jason (Sarah) and daughter Nicole (Randahl) and great-niece Jocelyn;  

- his half-brother Jerry Baty (Suzette), nephew Jacob, niece Jo Ellen and her son, and Rachel Baty’s sons;

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests assistance with final medical and funeral expenses.

Carl will be cremated and laid to rest alongside his parents in Kasilof, Alaska, in 2026—a final journey home to the land of the midnight sun.

Rest easy, brother, father, friend. The northern lights will shine more vibrantly now that you’re among them.

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