Daniel “Dan” Raymond Smith, of Helena, passed away suddenly on the afternoon of December 30, 2012 due to natural causes, while working the job that he had long loved. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>Dan was born in Great Falls, MT on May 7, 1952. \u00a0He was the son of Chuck and Doris Smith. \u00a0Dan grew up and attended school in Canyon Ferry, Missoula, Great Falls and Chester. \u00a0As a young man, Dan worked numerous jobs, including Park Caretaker for the Montana Fish and Game. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>After graduating high school, Dan\u00a0married Debra Gail Zuidema in 1975 in Great Falls. The newlyweds then moved to Helena to allow Dan to attend Vo-Tech to become a welder for Armor Metal. \u00a0In 1981, Dan began his career with Montana Power Company, where he \u00a0worked for 20 years and continued with NorthWestern Energy for an additional 11 years. \u00a0During this time, he also achieved his Plumbers License, winning the title of Montana State Plumber and Pipe Fitter “Rookie of the Year” in 1991 and First Place Pipe Fitter in the Montana Apprenticeship Contest in 1993. \u00a0 He was very well-known and respected for his skills, \u00a0hard work, dedication, sense of humor and the positive relationships he formed throughout the city of Helena.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Dan loved the Montana outdoors, including camping, bow and rifle hunting, fishing, sledding and snowmobiling. \u00a0Dan had a passion for photography, classic cars and collectible guns and enjoyed playing horseshoes and cribbage with his friends and family. \u00a0 He loved his dog “Prints” and his cat “Schmidt” dearly. \u00a0His pride and joy were his granddaughters, Arionna and Annabelle, whom he loved with all his heart and often took out out for adventures with grandpa across the city. \u00a0Dan was also an excellent trap shooter and a\u00a0member of the Helena Gun Club, where he had many friends and had served on the board for several years. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>Dan was preceded in death by his parents, Chuck and Doris Smith. \u00a0He\u00a0is survived by his wife, Debbie Smith, and his children, Rebecca Tveit and Marc Smith. \u00a0 Dan is the grandfather to Arionna and Annabelle Smith. \u00a0He also survived by his brother, Larry Smith, his sisters, Patty Smith and Rita Connelly, his mother-in-law, Delories Hoffer, his son-in-law, Brian Tveit, his daughter-in-law, Jolene Green, his sister-in-law, Valerie Zeleniak, his brother-in-laws, Rick Zuidema, Raymond Zuidema, Randy Zeleniak and Jerry Connelly, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. \u00a0He will be missed by his family and his many, many friends and acquaintances.<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>A memorial reception celebrating Dan\u2019s life will be held\u00a0from 1-3\u00a0p.m. on Saturday, January 5th, at NorthWestern Energy.<\/b><\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Smith-Daniel.gif","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/3316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}