Dave Smith:
CLASS OF 1966
Mt. Clemens High SchoolClass of 1966
Mt. clemens, MI
Rockford High SchoolClass of 2002
Rockford, MI
Thomas M. Cooley Law SchoolClass of 1985
Lansing, MI
Grand Valley State UniversityClass of 1972
Allendale, MI
Dave's Story
I was born and raised in Mt. Clemens, Mi.Outside of the fact that I came from a very large family (11)-(7 girls,4 boys), my first 18 years were fairly normal. I did what many kids did back then:little league baseball, jr. high and senior high sports. I was a terrible high school student. Not stupid, just very lazy. After graduating in 1966, I knew I was not ready for college. I messed around with a few classes at Macomb County CC, but ended up spending most of my time at the pool hall on South Gratiot. I decided to join the VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program in the fall of 67. I went through an intensive 6 week training in Denver and Boulder, Colorado. I spent my year of service in Des Moines, Iowa. I "grew up" a great deal that year.In the fall of 1968, I moved to West Michigan. I attended Grand Valley State University. I was now very ready for college. While at GVSU, I played one year of basketball and four years of tennis. In both my jr. and sr. years, I won the student-athlete award, given to a varsity letter winner with the highest GPA.
After graduation from GVSU, I accepted a job teaching at Rockford High School near Grand Rapids. I taught a variety of classes in both the social studies and English departments. In my last 12 years I exclusively taught Honors and Advanced Placement English. I had great students. I also taught Psych. and Logic at Davenport College. I've been in Who's Who Among America's teachers numerous times.
I coached boy's varsity tennis for 5 years. The lack of facilities and angry parents drove me out. During the summers in the mid to late 70's I worked as an assistant tennis pro at two racket clubs.
In 1982, I decided to go to law school. Grand Rapids did not have any law schools back then; thus, I had to drive 70 miles each way five nights a week to Lansing, where I attended Cooley Law School. The combination of teaching all day, driving, spending two hours per night in classes, and trying to fit in studying each day (and all day on weekends) burned me out. After nearly two years I decided to stay in education. No regrets about that decision. After 30 years of teaching, I retired in 2002. They offered an early retirement package that was hard to resist. However,I think I retired too young.
I moved around from one apartment to another until I bought a condo in 1991 on the northeast side of GR. I still live there.
In the mid-70's until about a year ago, I stayed active. Still was playing sports and had seriously (too seriously as it tu...Expand for more
rns out) gotten into long distance running. In Oct. 2008, I had to have a total hip replacement. As of February 2015, I have yet to recover. I am side-lined from some of my favotite activities. I'm supposed to get my other hip done, but at this point I'm saying no way.
I never married--something I regret when I see everyone around me with their families. I think growing up in a large family made me independent at a very young age. Too independent according to most people I know. I was the 2nd oldest; thus, I had to learn to take care of myself.
I now do some writing and educational consulting on a limited basis, as well as subbing a bit (mostly to see some of the teachers I still know) and proctering AP exams in May. Oh, and I love to play Black Jack in Vegas.
I enjoy hearing from both my school classmates as well as my former students.
Dec,18, 2020. It has been a number of years since I was active on Classmates. .Much has happened since then. I could go into great detail, but I won't. I will update the last 8 months because my life changed in myriad ways. I was still living in Grand Rapids. In October, I was driving on a freeway when I blacked out. I had no idea what was going on, but when I woke up, the police were there and my new car was totaled. Obviously, something was not right. It was not until March 6th that I would come to know what. My younger sister Kasy was visiting me; she was staying at a hotel in GR. She was at my condo, but she wanted to get back to her hotel to use the pool and jacuzzi; that sounded good to me so I drove myself to enjoy myself. I did not know what was going on, and apparently tried to park my car on the grass. I was, indeed, in trouble. I have no recollection of any of this. Kasy, who did not know GR very well, somehow got me into here car and got on the freeway and followed the H signs. I woke up in Blodgett Hospital with a tube down my throat in the ICU. I was in and out of consciousness--totally confused. In mid-March, I was 15 minutes from dying---the hospital gave Kasy those minutes to decide whether to let me die, or keep me alive. It was shortly after that when I understood what was wrong. I had been, and still was, having seizures due to kidney issues. I was experiencing 5-10 seizures a day. I have been seizure free for 9 months. Two days ago I ran for the first time in over a year.
It was a series of miracles that have given me a new outlook on life. Life is precious, and despite all the messes of 2020, I look forward to every day.
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