Memories of Johnny "Boogie" Smart

Holly Pinque

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Johnny's Celebration of Life Event on 6/25/2022

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Sophia Johns

John Smart

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Holly Pinque

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John Smart

💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙Love you and miss you Johnny man 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

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Holly Pinque

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Margo Dyess

Mr. & Mrs. Smart, I am so incredibly sorry. Your hearts must hurt so bad & I can’t imagine what a loss this is. He always said how much he loved you two & we always would say the nicest things about you two. You two are great parents & he loved you two dearly. I hope all is well. My condolences to you & your family.

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Holly Pinque

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Margo Dyess

2012, Sherwood High School, Olney Sandy Spring Road, Sandy Spring, MD, USA

Johnny was such a funny & kind kid. I was new senior year & we sat next to each other in high school Spanish. I told him I liked his gauges because we were the only two kids in the school who had them. He talked to me everyday after that, he introduced me to his friends we had lunch with everyday, we always found each other in the hallway in between classes to walk & talk & we would wander through the neighborhoods in olney after school at times. He taught me how to drum a tiny bit & how to skateboard & I taught him some sign language. The best memory was how I was the only person to dress up Halloween senior year & Johnny warned me nobody does that like at my old school, but I did it anyways. When he walked into Spanish, we couldn’t help but laugh so hard when he saw me.

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Holly Pinque

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Holly Pinque

<3

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Anuraag Mallela

Been thinking about him a lot lately. Wish I could share my life adventures with him Been thinking about him a lot lately. Wish I could share my life adventures with him Been thinking about him a lot lately. Wish I could ... Read more

Holly Pinque

Meeee tooooo. I've discovered so many songs I wish I could play for him Meeee tooooo. I've discovered so many songs I wish I could play for him Meeee tooooo. I've discovered so many songs I wish ... Read more

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Johnny’s mom 💙

💙 💙 💙

John Smart

What a great picture of Johnny What a great picture of Johnny What a great picture of Johnny

Holly Pinque

miss you J

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Johnny’s mom 💙

John Smart

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John Smart

He must have been a funny guy He must have been a funny guy He must have been a funny guy

Holly Pinque

2018, Cafe Rio Kent

found this picture on an old phone. We raced to Cafe Rio (and I won :) ) after he got a matching ford fusion

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Johnny’s mom 💙

I look for you in everything, everywhere I go.

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Sophia Johns

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Holly Pinque

2015

miss you, boogie. every day i miss you

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Sophia Johns

Christine Park

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Johnny’s mom 💙

How do you make a Kleenex dance? You put a lil Boogie in it. 😀 How do you make a Kleenex dance? You put a lil Boogie in it. 😀 How do you make a Kleenex dance? You put a lil Boogie... Read more

Holly Pinque

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Boogz.

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Christine Park

Sophia Johns

Malik Moore

Johnny’s mom 💙

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John Smart

Shared a heart

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Holly Pinque

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Amanda Smart Gilliom

Miss you Johnny❤️

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Amanda Smart Gilliom

Love you Johnny ❤️

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Find Wortman

Joining today to share in the love for this beautiful soul.

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Holly Pinque

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Johnny’s mom 💙

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Dana Hall

MaryAnn Cook

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Johnny’s mom 💙

We are inflight to Wa DC where we will gather with Jonathan’s friends and the girls friends too.  The three separate groups intermingled and it will be sweet to see everyone grown and hear the stories they’ve selected to share about our son.  Gawd! I miss that beautiful boy!!!!!!
Since I won’t speak at the service I’ve decided to share here. Typing is so much easier than forcing words over my lumpy throat.  
Johnny was born in Kanakanak Hospital in Dillingham Ak.  That’s the worlds longest palindrome so it’s unique as was Johnny man.  He was born in the Cawl, sound asleep till the bag of waters was burst and he sounded his first cry.  He scared me being asleep and grey behind the veil.  The nurses loved him esp since he was the only baby there those few days.  They called him a lil lover bc his demeanor was so sweet.  
We called him Cub.  
For years he answered to Cub, Cubby, Man Cub.

A week before he was born we decided to name his Jonathan instead of Luke.  He often said Awwwww, you shooda named me Luke!  
His dad would always pipe in 
“I am your father” and he would smile his sweet Johnny smile.  His eyes sparkled when he smiled.  At public events he would find me across the room and sparkle at me.  I would always say to John, one day that smile is going tb for someone else but for now it’s mine.  
Jonathan was a big STARWAR fan and played the video game much longer than his peers till one day he dropped it into the Goodwill donation box. One of his many steps out of childhood. 
When he was a small child he made a schedule to get his favorite Osborne Book, Find Waldo, each afternoon when the sun warmed the linoleum in the kitchen and he would study it.  I loved watching his intensity. He never took an interest in things half way. 
His observational abilities  made him to know the regularity of a service truck that passed thru a dirt alley next to our house when he was 5.  For days he enlisted his sisters to dig a big hole till the unsuspecting driver showed up.  That morning Jonathan was poised in his room at the window watching the bucket truck arrive.  He watched the top portion of it go along the top of the fence line then suddenly go lopsided as the wheel went into the big hole they had dug.  He was so thrilled with himself.  I had wondered what they were up too so dutifully each day.  The three lil stooges still haven’t told me ALL their adventures and prob wont.  Childhood had so many adventures they enjoyed after the initial complaints over no cable tv during summer months.

I remember once when he was lying on the linoleum floor with a matchbox car  making car sounds.  He was less than a year old so I was surprised at his sound effects.  In surprise I asked John “did you teach him how to make that noise?” John answered no then I asked “then how does he know how to make those sounds?”  To which John answered “BC he’s a little Boy”.  I love that story!!!!  
That little boy was amazing to watch.  He always carried little toys or rocks in his pockets to study when he had tb still.  He often made a fist with his chubby lil hands that served as a telescope that he used to look around. Try it!  You’ll find that you possess a Johnny telescope all your own and that It really does bring things into focus better.   
Johnny was almost three when we moved to Md.  thankfully our house had a fenced back yard bc he discovered the doggie door and if he woke in the night he went outside.  Before that age, in Dillingham he figured out how to open the door and go outside. I found him in the tall grass where a moose or bear had bedded down for the night and the grass walls encircled the stomped swirled bed he was standing in.  He always wanted tb outdoors.  
In NM we would get up in the morning and the kids and I would don their rubber boots and we would go walk Sandy trails in the dessert.  Johnny collected big plastic cupfuls of stink bugs.  He would proudly show anybody and tell them the count “I’ve got 32 stink bugs “. He loved seeing snakes and lizards and horny toads.  Once he turned over a rock near a lake we were exploring and found a slimy something I had never seen before and was afraid so I made him leave it.  He said Aw mom!   He checked under the rock on the way back and it was GONE so again he said  Aw mom!!!!!   
Now I wish I had let him pick it up. Turns out it was harmless.

I now keep a large vase in the table with the biggest pine ones I’ve ever seen that he pu on one of his mountain hikes. 
Jonathan often brought me chubby lil fistfuls of dandelions so I bought lots of tiny vases to keep them in. 
He once helped me dig up several large clusters of daffodils I found at an old school site in the forest before new construction destroyed the area. He wheelbarrowed them home in large clumps and planted them along the grass perimeter outside our kitchen window.  He doesn’t remember it prob bc I rushed in excited and woke him up and he stumbled through it only to go back to sleep after.  In Oct 2021 he gave me the poem I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD and I told him the story that he didn’t remember.  That’s an artist brain to forget whatever they want to forget.  
He and I dried flowers and it was rewarding to show him what was finally dry and to see his collections.  He framed his and gave them away as gifts.  
I often got to show him pics I had taken and he would say “your getting better at taking pics mom”.  More often than not he would quip a clever thought and make me laugh.  I once texted him three points about a car we were behind 1) Prius 2) Canadian plates 3) can’t tell you. And he texted right back “how bad was the pileup?   Lol. 
He had a wicked sense of humor.  I’ve always said only smart people can be so funny.  It’s that instant recall that I found so incredible bc I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast.  He said mom u don’t even use your own memory.  It’s been a lifelong problem I said but I can spell well. 
Speaking of spelling, that boy could spell anything.  He was too shy to join spelling bees so Year after year he turned down teachers who pursued him for the bee.  He drove his sisters crazy spelling things they’d asked for but speaking too fast. He would laugh at me too when telling a sandwich he had and I would say wait, bacon, 
artichoke, 
pesto, 
crimini, 
On croissant 
sandwich (all made up for illustration)
I think slow and it made him shake his head.  
I miss him finding me in the house to show me his latest origami creations. He could name them much like he named off dinosaurs as a child. He would say these platonic solids are what life is made up of.  He showed me videos that kept me up at night as I considered the creation of life and how minutely science can drill down.  Food and its resulting Nutrition is fascinating to me as Platonic solids were to him and I drove him a little bit crazy trying to find a cure for his IBS.  i can hardly stand to consider any of it now feeling like the cure hid from us-my beautiful boy.  
There are so many stories I could keep on telling of course but for now I will stop here. I keep his three pairs of shoes lined up at the front door where he left them. It breaks my heart over and over again but that would happen no matter what. 
I believe I will see him again and it’s a small consolation to not seeing him grow old.  I won’t get to dance at his wedding or all the other things that were supposed to be.  We will celebrate his life on Saturday and try to accept what is.  I cry everyday and cannot imagine I won’t someday.  He was a gift and if I got a do over he would have to let me ride in his car even tho I press my imaginary brakes (which drove him CRAZY and thus I was banned).  Maybe I wouldn’t do it for that’s what do overs are for.  
His room doesn’t smell like him anymore and I’ve washed all his dirty clothes for the last time.  That makes me cry. 
I have so much more compassion for humans and our breakable hearts.  Johnny wanted to help the injured.  Perhaps now he gets to influence and be the change he wanted to make.

I was going to stop a few lines back and so I will.  Hug your children.  Look into their faces.  Listen, really listen. And get in their car even if you’ve been banned.  They owe you that.  :).  
Jonathan (LUKE) Noble Smart I love you forever and if you can see me I hope you know the depth and breadth of my love and pride that I got tb your mom.  You were an amazing kiddo.  Thank you for coming to be my son.  I’ll see you on the other side one day Cub!!!!! Ma.

We are inflight to Wa DC where we will gather with Jonathan’s friends and the girls friends too. The three... Read more separate groups intermingled and it will be sweet to see everyone grown and hear the stories they’ve selected to share about our son. Gawd! I miss that beautiful boy!!!!!!
Since I won’t speak at the service I’ve decided to share here. Typing is so much easier than forcing words over my lumpy throat.
Johnny was born in Kanakanak Hospital in Dillingham Ak. That’s the worlds longest palindrome so it’s unique as was Johnny man. He was born in the Cawl, sound asleep till the bag of waters was burst and he sounded his first cry. He scared me being asleep and grey behind the veil. The nurses loved him esp since he was the only baby there those few days. They called him a lil lover bc his demeanor was so sweet.
We called him Cub.
For years he answered to Cub, Cubby, Man Cub.

A week before he was born we decided to name his Jonathan instead of Luke. He often said Awwwww, you shooda named me Luke!
His dad would always pipe in
“I am your father” and he would smile his sweet Johnny smile. His eyes sparkled when he smiled. At public events he would find me across the room and sparkle at me. I would always say to John, one day that smile is going tb for someone else but for now it’s mine.
Jonathan was a big STARWAR fan and played the video game much longer than his peers till one day he dropped it into the Goodwill donation box. One of his many steps out of childhood.
When he was a small child he made a schedule to get his favorite Osborne Book, Find Waldo, each afternoon when the sun warmed the linoleum in the kitchen and he would study it. I loved watching his intensity. He never took an interest in things half way.
His observational abilities made him to know the regularity of a service truck that passed thru a dirt alley next to our house when he was 5. For days he enlisted his sisters to dig a big hole till the unsuspecting driver showed up. That morning Jonathan was poised in his room at the window watching the bucket truck arrive. He watched the top portion of it go along the top of the fence line then suddenly go lopsided as the wheel went into the big hole they had dug. He was so thrilled with himself. I had wondered what they were up too so dutifully each day. The three lil stooges still haven’t told me ALL their adventures and prob wont. Childhood had so many adventures they enjoyed after the initial complaints over no cable tv during summer months.

I remember once when he was lying on the linoleum floor with a matchbox car making car sounds. He was less than a year old so I was surprised at his sound effects. In surprise I asked John “did you teach him how to make that noise?” John answered no then I asked “then how does he know how to make those sounds?” To which John answered “BC he’s a little Boy”. I love that story!!!!
That little boy was amazing to watch. He always carried little toys or rocks in his pockets to study when he had tb still. He often made a fist with his chubby lil hands that served as a telescope that he used to look around. Try it! You’ll find that you possess a Johnny telescope all your own and that It really does bring things into focus better.
Johnny was almost three when we moved to Md. thankfully our house had a fenced back yard bc he discovered the doggie door and if he woke in the night he went outside. Before that age, in Dillingham he figured out how to open the door and go outside. I found him in the tall grass where a moose or bear had bedded down for the night and the grass walls encircled the stomped swirled bed he was standing in. He always wanted tb outdoors.
In NM we would get up in the morning and the kids and I would don their rubber boots and we would go walk Sandy trails in the dessert. Johnny collected big plastic cupfuls of stink bugs. He would proudly show anybody and tell them the count “I’ve got 32 stink bugs “. He loved seeing snakes and lizards and horny toads. Once he turned over a rock near a lake we were exploring and found a slimy something I had never seen before and was afraid so I made him leave it. He said Aw mom! He checked under the rock on the way back and it was GONE so again he said Aw mom!!!!!
Now I wish I had let him pick it up. Turns out it was harmless.

I now keep a large vase in the table with the biggest pine ones I’ve ever seen that he pu on one of his mountain hikes.
Jonathan often brought me chubby lil fistfuls of dandelions so I bought lots of tiny vases to keep them in.
He once helped me dig up several large clusters of daffodils I found at an old school site in the forest before new construction destroyed the area. He wheelbarrowed them home in large clumps and planted them along the grass perimeter outside our kitchen window. He doesn’t remember it prob bc I rushed in excited and woke him up and he stumbled through it only to go back to sleep after. In Oct 2021 he gave me the poem I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD and I told him the story that he didn’t remember. That’s an artist brain to forget whatever they want to forget.
He and I dried flowers and it was rewarding to show him what was finally dry and to see his collections. He framed his and gave them away as gifts.
I often got to show him pics I had taken and he would say “your getting better at taking pics mom”. More often than not he would quip a clever thought and make me laugh. I once texted him three points about a car we were behind 1) Prius 2) Canadian plates 3) can’t tell you. And he texted right back “how bad was the pileup? Lol.
He had a wicked sense of humor. I’ve always said only smart people can be so funny. It’s that instant recall that I found so incredible bc I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast. He said mom u don’t even use your own memory. It’s been a lifelong problem I said but I can spell well.
Speaking of spelling, that boy could spell anything. He was too shy to join spelling bees so Year after year he turned down teachers who pursued him for the bee. He drove his sisters crazy spelling things they’d asked for but speaking too fast. He would laugh at me too when telling a sandwich he had and I would say wait, bacon,
artichoke,
pesto,
crimini,
On croissant
sandwich (all made up for illustration)
I think slow and it made him shake his head.
I miss him finding me in the house to show me his latest origami creations. He could name them much like he named off dinosaurs as a child. He would say these platonic solids are what life is made up of. He showed me videos that kept me up at night as I considered the creation of life and how minutely science can drill down. Food and its resulting Nutrition is fascinating to me as Platonic solids were to him and I drove him a little bit crazy trying to find a cure for his IBS. i can hardly stand to consider any of it now feeling like the cure hid from us-my beautiful boy.
There are so many stories I could keep on telling of course but for now I will stop here. I keep his three pairs of shoes lined up at the front door where he left them. It breaks my heart over and over again but that would happen no matter what.
I believe I will see him again and it’s a small consolation to not seeing him grow old. I won’t get to dance at his wedding or all the other things that were supposed to be. We will celebrate his life on Saturday and try to accept what is. I cry everyday and cannot imagine I won’t someday. He was a gift and if I got a do over he would have to let me ride in his car even tho I press my imaginary brakes (which drove him CRAZY and thus I was banned). Maybe I wouldn’t do it for that’s what do overs are for.
His room doesn’t smell like him anymore and I’ve washed all his dirty clothes for the last time. That makes me cry.
I have so much more compassion for humans and our breakable hearts. Johnny wanted to help the injured. Perhaps now he gets to influence and be the change he wanted to make.

I was going to stop a few lines back and so I will. Hug your children. Look into their faces. Listen, really listen. And get in their car even if you’ve been banned. They owe you that. :).
Jonathan (LUKE) Noble Smart I love you forever and if you can see me I hope you know the depth and breadth of my love and pride that I got tb your mom. You were an amazing kiddo. Thank you for coming to be my son. I’ll see you on the other side one day Cub!!!!! Ma. Read less We are inflight to Wa DC where we will gather with Jonathan’s friends and the girls friends too. The three separate groups intermingled... Read more and it will be sweet to see everyone grown and hear the stories they’ve selected to share about our son. Gawd! I miss that beautiful boy!!!!!!
Since I won’t speak at the service I’ve decided to share here. Typing is so much easier than forcing words over my lumpy throat.
Johnny was born in Kanakanak Hospital in Dillingham Ak. That’s the worlds longest palindrome so it’s unique as was Johnny man. He was born in the Cawl, sound asleep till the bag of waters was burst and he sounded his first cry. He scared me being asleep and grey behind the veil. The nurses loved him esp since he was the only baby there those few days. They called him a lil lover bc his demeanor was so sweet.
We called him Cub.
For years he answered to Cub, Cubby, Man Cub.

A week before he was born we decided to name his Jonathan instead of Luke. He often said Awwwww, you shooda named me Luke!
His dad would always pipe in
“I am your father” and he would smile his sweet Johnny smile. His eyes sparkled when he smiled. At public events he would find me across the room and sparkle at me. I would always say to John, one day that smile is going tb for someone else but for now it’s mine.
Jonathan was a big STARWAR fan and played the video game much longer than his peers till one day he dropped it into the Goodwill donation box. One of his many steps out of childhood.
When he was a small child he made a schedule to get his favorite Osborne Book, Find Waldo, each afternoon when the sun warmed the linoleum in the kitchen and he would study it. I loved watching his intensity. He never took an interest in things half way.
His observational abilities made him to know the regularity of a service truck that passed thru a dirt alley next to our house when he was 5. For days he enlisted his sisters to dig a big hole till the unsuspecting driver showed up. That morning Jonathan was poised in his room at the window watching the bucket truck arrive. He watched the top portion of it go along the top of the fence line then suddenly go lopsided as the wheel went into the big hole they had dug. He was so thrilled with himself. I had wondered what they were up too so dutifully each day. The three lil stooges still haven’t told me ALL their adventures and prob wont. Childhood had so many adventures they enjoyed after the initial complaints over no cable tv during summer months.

I remember once when he was lying on the linoleum floor with a matchbox car making car sounds. He was less than a year old so I was surprised at his sound effects. In surprise I asked John “did you teach him how to make that noise?” John answered no then I asked “then how does he know how to make those sounds?” To which John answered “BC he’s a little Boy”. I love that story!!!!
That little boy was amazing to watch. He always carried little toys or rocks in his pockets to study when he had tb still. He often made a fist with his chubby lil hands that served as a telescope that he used to look around. Try it! You’ll find that you possess a Johnny telescope all your own and that It really does bring things into focus better.
Johnny was almost three when we moved to Md. thankfully our house had a fenced back yard bc he discovered the doggie door and if he woke in the night he went outside. Before that age, in Dillingham he figured out how to open the door and go outside. I found him in the tall grass where a moose or bear had bedded down for the night and the grass walls encircled the stomped swirled bed he was standing in. He always wanted tb outdoors.
In NM we would get up in the morning and the kids and I would don their rubber boots and we would go walk Sandy trails in the dessert. Johnny collected big plastic cupfuls of stink bugs. He would proudly show anybody and tell them the count “I’ve got 32 stink bugs “. He loved seeing snakes and lizards and horny toads. Once he turned over a rock near a lake we were exploring and found a slimy something I had never seen before and was afraid so I made him leave it. He said Aw mom! He checked under the rock on the way back and it was GONE so again he said Aw mom!!!!!
Now I wish I had let him pick it up. Turns out it was harmless.

I now keep a large vase in the table with the biggest pine ones I’ve ever seen that he pu on one of his mountain hikes.
Jonathan often brought me chubby lil fistfuls of dandelions so I bought lots of tiny vases to keep them in.
He once helped me dig up several large clusters of daffodils I found at an old school site in the forest before new construction destroyed the area. He wheelbarrowed them home in large clumps and planted them along the grass perimeter outside our kitchen window. He doesn’t remember it prob bc I rushed in excited and woke him up and he stumbled through it only to go back to sleep after. In Oct 2021 he gave me the poem I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD and I told him the story that he didn’t remember. That’s an artist brain to forget whatever they want to forget.
He and I dried flowers and it was rewarding to show him what was finally dry and to see his collections. He framed his and gave them away as gifts.
I often got to show him pics I had taken and he would say “your getting better at taking pics mom”. More often than not he would quip a clever thought and make me laugh. I once texted him three points about a car we were behind 1) Prius 2) Canadian plates 3) can’t tell you. And he texted right back “how bad was the pileup? Lol.
He had a wicked sense of humor. I’ve always said only smart people can be so funny. It’s that instant recall that I found so incredible bc I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast. He said mom u don’t even use your own memory. It’s been a lifelong problem I said but I can spell well.
Speaking of spelling, that boy could spell anything. He was too shy to join spelling bees so Year after year he turned down teachers who pursued him for the bee. He drove his sisters crazy spelling things they’d asked for but speaking too fast. He would laugh at me too when telling a sandwich he had and I would say wait, bacon,
artichoke,
pesto,
crimini,
On croissant
sandwich (all made up for illustration)
I think slow and it made him shake his head.
I miss him finding me in the house to show me his latest origami creations. He could name them much like he named off dinosaurs as a child. He would say these platonic solids are what life is made up of. He showed me videos that kept me up at night as I considered the creation of life and how minutely science can drill down. Food and its resulting Nutrition is fascinating to me as Platonic solids were to him and I drove him a little bit crazy trying to find a cure for his IBS. i can hardly stand to consider any of it now feeling like the cure hid from us-my beautiful boy.
There are so many stories I could keep on telling of course but for now I will stop here. I keep his three pairs of shoes lined up at the front door where he left them. It breaks my heart over and over again but that would happen no matter what.
I believe I will see him again and it’s a small consolation to not seeing him grow old. I won’t get to dance at his wedding or all the other things that were supposed to be. We will celebrate his life on Saturday and try to accept what is. I cry everyday and cannot imagine I won’t someday. He was a gift and if I got a do over he would have to let me ride in his car even tho I press my imaginary brakes (which drove him CRAZY and thus I was banned). Maybe I wouldn’t do it for that’s what do overs are for.
His room doesn’t smell like him anymore and I’ve washed all his dirty clothes for the last time. That makes me cry.
I have so much more compassion for humans and our breakable hearts. Johnny wanted to help the injured. Perhaps now he gets to influence and be the change he wanted to make.

I was going to stop a few lines back and so I will. Hug your children. Look into their faces. Listen, really listen. And get in their car even if you’ve been banned. They owe you that. :).
Jonathan (LUKE) Noble Smart I love you forever and if you can see me I hope you know the depth and breadth of my love and pride that I got tb your mom. You were an amazing kiddo. Thank you for coming to be my son. I’ll see you on the other side one day Cub!!!!! Ma. Read less We are inflight to Wa DC where we will gather with ... Read moreJonathan’s friends and the girls friends too. The three separate groups intermingled and it will be sweet to see everyone grown and hear the stories they’ve selected to share about our son. Gawd! I miss that beautiful boy!!!!!!
Since I won’t speak at the service I’ve decided to share here. Typing is so much easier than forcing words over my lumpy throat.
Johnny was born in Kanakanak Hospital in Dillingham Ak. That’s the worlds longest palindrome so it’s unique as was Johnny man. He was born in the Cawl, sound asleep till the bag of waters was burst and he sounded his first cry. He scared me being asleep and grey behind the veil. The nurses loved him esp since he was the only baby there those few days. They called him a lil lover bc his demeanor was so sweet.
We called him Cub.
For years he answered to Cub, Cubby, Man Cub.

A week before he was born we decided to name his Jonathan instead of Luke. He often said Awwwww, you shooda named me Luke!
His dad would always pipe in
“I am your father” and he would smile his sweet Johnny smile. His eyes sparkled when he smiled. At public events he would find me across the room and sparkle at me. I would always say to John, one day that smile is going tb for someone else but for now it’s mine.
Jonathan was a big STARWAR fan and played the video game much longer than his peers till one day he dropped it into the Goodwill donation box. One of his many steps out of childhood.
When he was a small child he made a schedule to get his favorite Osborne Book, Find Waldo, each afternoon when the sun warmed the linoleum in the kitchen and he would study it. I loved watching his intensity. He never took an interest in things half way.
His observational abilities made him to know the regularity of a service truck that passed thru a dirt alley next to our house when he was 5. For days he enlisted his sisters to dig a big hole till the unsuspecting driver showed up. That morning Jonathan was poised in his room at the window watching the bucket truck arrive. He watched the top portion of it go along the top of the fence line then suddenly go lopsided as the wheel went into the big hole they had dug. He was so thrilled with himself. I had wondered what they were up too so dutifully each day. The three lil stooges still haven’t told me ALL their adventures and prob wont. Childhood had so many adventures they enjoyed after the initial complaints over no cable tv during summer months.

I remember once when he was lying on the linoleum floor with a matchbox car making car sounds. He was less than a year old so I was surprised at his sound effects. In surprise I asked John “did you teach him how to make that noise?” John answered no then I asked “then how does he know how to make those sounds?” To which John answered “BC he’s a little Boy”. I love that story!!!!
That little boy was amazing to watch. He always carried little toys or rocks in his pockets to study when he had tb still. He often made a fist with his chubby lil hands that served as a telescope that he used to look around. Try it! You’ll find that you possess a Johnny telescope all your own and that It really does bring things into focus better.
Johnny was almost three when we moved to Md. thankfully our house had a fenced back yard bc he discovered the doggie door and if he woke in the night he went outside. Before that age, in Dillingham he figured out how to open the door and go outside. I found him in the tall grass where a moose or bear had bedded down for the night and the grass walls encircled the stomped swirled bed he was standing in. He always wanted tb outdoors.
In NM we would get up in the morning and the kids and I would don their rubber boots and we would go walk Sandy trails in the dessert. Johnny collected big plastic cupfuls of stink bugs. He would proudly show anybody and tell them the count “I’ve got 32 stink bugs “. He loved seeing snakes and lizards and horny toads. Once he turned over a rock near a lake we were exploring and found a slimy something I had never seen before and was afraid so I made him leave it. He said Aw mom! He checked under the rock on the way back and it was GONE so again he said Aw mom!!!!!
Now I wish I had let him pick it up. Turns out it was harmless.

I now keep a large vase in the table with the biggest pine ones I’ve ever seen that he pu on one of his mountain hikes.
Jonathan often brought me chubby lil fistfuls of dandelions so I bought lots of tiny vases to keep them in.
He once helped me dig up several large clusters of daffodils I found at an old school site in the forest before new construction destroyed the area. He wheelbarrowed them home in large clumps and planted them along the grass perimeter outside our kitchen window. He doesn’t remember it prob bc I rushed in excited and woke him up and he stumbled through it only to go back to sleep after. In Oct 2021 he gave me the poem I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD and I told him the story that he didn’t remember. That’s an artist brain to forget whatever they want to forget.
He and I dried flowers and it was rewarding to show him what was finally dry and to see his collections. He framed his and gave them away as gifts.
I often got to show him pics I had taken and he would say “your getting better at taking pics mom”. More often than not he would quip a clever thought and make me laugh. I once texted him three points about a car we were behind 1) Prius 2) Canadian plates 3) can’t tell you. And he texted right back “how bad was the pileup? Lol.
He had a wicked sense of humor. I’ve always said only smart people can be so funny. It’s that instant recall that I found so incredible bc I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast. He said mom u don’t even use your own memory. It’s been a lifelong problem I said but I can spell well.
Speaking of spelling, that boy could spell anything. He was too shy to join spelling bees so Year after year he turned down teachers who pursued him for the bee. He drove his sisters crazy spelling things they’d asked for but speaking too fast. He would laugh at me too when telling a sandwich he had and I would say wait, bacon,
artichoke,
pesto,
crimini,
On croissant
sandwich (all made up for illustration)
I think slow and it made him shake his head.
I miss him finding me in the house to show me his latest origami creations. He could name them much like he named off dinosaurs as a child. He would say these platonic solids are what life is made up of. He showed me videos that kept me up at night as I considered the creation of life and how minutely science can drill down. Food and its resulting Nutrition is fascinating to me as Platonic solids were to him and I drove him a little bit crazy trying to find a cure for his IBS. i can hardly stand to consider any of it now feeling like the cure hid from us-my beautiful boy.
There are so many stories I could keep on telling of course but for now I will stop here. I keep his three pairs of shoes lined up at the front door where he left them. It breaks my heart over and over again but that would happen no matter what.
I believe I will see him again and it’s a small consolation to not seeing him grow old. I won’t get to dance at his wedding or all the other things that were supposed to be. We will celebrate his life on Saturday and try to accept what is. I cry everyday and cannot imagine I won’t someday. He was a gift and if I got a do over he would have to let me ride in his car even tho I press my imaginary brakes (which drove him CRAZY and thus I was banned). Maybe I wouldn’t do it for that’s what do overs are for.
His room doesn’t smell like him anymore and I’ve washed all his dirty clothes for the last time. That makes me cry.
I have so much more compassion for humans and our breakable hearts. Johnny wanted to help the injured. Perhaps now he gets to influence and be the change he wanted to make.

I was going to stop a few lines back and so I will. Hug your children. Look into their faces. Listen, really listen. And get in their car even if you’ve been banned. They owe you that. :).
Jonathan (LUKE) Noble Smart I love you forever and if you can see me I hope you know the depth and breadth of my love and pride that I got tb your mom. You were an amazing kiddo. Thank you for coming to be my son. I’ll see you on the other side one day Cub!!!!! Ma. Read less

Dana Hall

Thank you for sharing these beautiful words and stories with us! He sounds like he has a beautiful soul. Thank you for sharing these beautiful words and stories with us! He sounds like he has a beautiful soul. Thank you for sharing these beautiful words and stories... Read more

Marsha Bousley

Oh my!! This is so Beautiful! With tears running down my face, I truly understand a mom’s Broken Heart! We... Read more Oh my!! This is so Beautiful! With tears running down my face, I truly understand a mom’s Broken Heart! We are so Blessed to have... Read more Oh my!! This is so Beautiful! With tears running down... Read more

Johnny’s mom 💙

💦 💦 💦

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Amanda Smart Gilliom

Shelli Huls

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Holly Pinque

This was Oct 1st, 2015 - 7 years and 5 days ago we landed in Renton, WA for the first time after our infamous... Read more This was Oct 1st, 2015 - 7 years and 5 days ago we landed in Renton, WA for the first time after our infamous road trip. feeeeels... Read more This was Oct 1st, 2015 - 7 years and 5 days ago we ... Read more

Johnny’s mom 💙

My beautiful boy! 💦 My beautiful boy! 💦 My beautiful boy! 💦

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Shelli Huls

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Shelli Huls

So adorable So adorable So adorable

Dana Hall

John and Michele,

May you find comfort during this incredibly difficult journey. May Johnny’s memory be for a blessing. Know you are loved by so many.

Dana

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Shelli Huls

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Rick Buell

John and Michele, my heart goes out to you during this difficult time.

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Shelli Huls

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Johnny’s mom 💙

Thank you Rick. 💙 Thank you Rick. 💙 Thank you Rick. 💙

Keri Jacobs

Keri, Gary, Noely, Scott and Shannon are so very sorry for the loss of your Johnny. We love seeing all these pictures and the way he grew over the years. We can tell he is a beautiful soul. May God give you peace and comfort in the time of your terrible pain and longing for him. We miss him. Our hearts are with you all. Much love from the Jacobs.

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Holly Pinque

Shelli Huls

Johnny’s mom 💙

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Holly Pinque

2020, Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout, Ashford, WA, USA

Another picture from his fire lookout trip - I love this picture's perspective & if you look closely you can see his reflection :)

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MaryAnn Cook

Amanda Smart Gilliom

Shelli Huls

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Holly Pinque

2020, Tolmie Peak Fire Lookout, Ashford, WA, USA

Early into the 2020 shut downs, J disappeared into the mountains and rented a fire lookout near Mount Rainier. He spent the days reading, hiking and listening to music. This was the song he designated "perfect to listen to" while he was up there. https://soundcloud.com/antifr…

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Sophia Johns

MaryAnn Cook

Amanda Smart Gilliom

Shelli Huls

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