Marjorie Gearhart Smith (Marje) was born to Traver and Mabel Gearhart on February 1, 1932. Raised as an only child, she moved from Mississippi to Denver during WWII for her mother’s health. She attended East High School in Denver where she met her husband, Donald P. Smith Jr. (Don) Following high school, she attended Barnard College, a private women’s college in New York City. She majored in math and minored in physics, aspiring to become a doctor.

Her education was interrupted after two years, upon her marriage to Don in 1952. Once Don completed military service, she and Don attended the University of Denver, but only he completed his studies with a law degree. He ultimately practiced law and served as a Colorado state trial and appellate judge.

Marje and Don welcomed three children – Marcia, Geary and Craig, and once they were all in school, Marje returned to her studies at University of Colorado - Denver on a part-time basis, to obtain an accounting degree. She graduated in the early 1970’s and passed the CPA exam on her first try. After gaining experience in a local accounting firm, she struck out on her own, partnering with other women and building her practice in Littleton and specializing in tax accounting. She sold her practice in 1992, but continued to assist a few clients until 2002, when Don passed away.

Marje didn’t see herself as a trailblazer, but she was – returning to college and working while raising children, working in a predominantly male profession (although one of her sons called accounting “women’s work”), operating her own business, having women partners and ultimately co-owning an office building in Littleton with other women. She was a Republican precinct committee woman and gladly lent her time and skill to many civic organizations. Her view was that if you didn’t look for discrimination, you would not find it. If you ran into resistance, the best strategy was to “kill them with kindness.”

But she was traditional, too. She always attributed her success to the fact that her husband “allowed” her to return to school and to work. She supported him in his many masonic and judicial activities. She was known as an accomplished seamstress and baked hundreds of cookies and handmade Christmas ornaments each holiday season. She thoroughly enjoyed her grandchildren, Miriam and Matthias Krieger and Andrew, Alex and Katie Smith, and took pride in her children’s and grandchildren’s accomplishments. She is loved and missed by many more, friends and family who called her Marje and Nana.

Marje leaves us as woman who journeyed through life savoring the good times and surviving the hard ones, with an unquenchable appetite to learn, work hard and enjoy family and friends.

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