Longtime Zumirez Drive resident Cecil Jesse Smith died peacefully in his sleep on Aug. 30. He was 95.
Born on Nov. 7, 1907 in Brazil, Ind., Smith was the third from the youngest of 13 children. Both of his parents died of illnesses in 1922, which prompted him to find work at age 15 to help support the family.
Smith was a professional upholsterer. In the early 1930s he married Joanne, and relocated to Southern California in 1936. In 1950, the Smiths settled in Malibu on Zumirez Drive, where they grew vegetables and fruit, and raised chickens, goats, honeybees and even peacocks. The couple had no children.
At the age of 94, Smith received his General Education Development (GED) diploma. In an article about this accomplishment, the Los Angeles Times quipped that Smith had taken an 80-year recess and speculated that he may have been the oldest person to pass a GED. President George W. Bush and Gov. Gray Davis both sent him personally signed congratulatory letters.
Joanne Smith died of a stroke in 1990, and all 12 of Cecil Smith’s siblings predeceased him.