Obituaries
Obituaries
Saturday, January 13, 2007; Page B07
Earl R. SmithCoast Guard Captain
Earl R. Smith, 93, a retired Coast Guard captain and assistant corporation counsel for the District, died Dec. 17 of congestive heart failure at his home in the Independence Hill retirement community in San Antonio. He was a former resident of Alexandria.
Capt. Smith was born in New Athens, Ill., and grew up in Nashville, Ill. He served for five years in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression. He moved to Washington, where he attended George Washington and Georgetown universities and received a law degree from Catholic University's Columbus University School of Law. He enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942 and attended Officer Candidate School. He was stationed with Coast Guard and Navy personnel, providing convoy protection from a remote base on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
After World War II, he practiced law in Washington for about five years before being appointed assistant corporation counsel for the District in 1951. He handled legal matters for the District until 1970.
He served from 1950 to 1957 in the Coast Guard Reserve as legal and training officer for the first Coast Guard Reserve Training unit organized in Washington. He also was commanding officer of an electronics training unit here from 1957 to 1966, which received an outstanding unit award.
He was called to active duty at Coast Guard headquarters for a special legal assignment from 1970 to 1973, when he retired as a captain.
After retiring, Capt. Smith and his wife traveled extensively and were involved in genealogical, historic and patriotic organizations.
He was a member of the Reserve Officers Association for 56 years and belonged to the Military Officers Association, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Sons of Union Veterans and several Masonic lodges.
Capt. Smith wrote articles on historical and genealogical topics, and he lectured on the Civil War to a roundtable in Alexandria.
He lived in Alexandria for more than 50 years before moving to San Antonio in 1999 to be near a nephew.
His wife, Mozelle Jean Smith, whom he married in 1946, died in 2000.
He leaves no immediate survivors.
Edward Clarence JohnsonBudget Analyst
Edward Clarence Johnson, 70, who retired as a budget analyst from the Navy Department and then opened a consulting firm, died of cancer Jan. 1 at his home in Fairfax County.
