July 6, 1987.
Recorder
15
Robert Smithwick
with 3,500 to 4,000 students, and five
elementary schools, one every 10 months.
A great number of graduates from
these high schools needed a college to
go to and the only ones available were
outside their district. So Smithwick, with
other city and county leaders, decided
to build a community college. With
Smithwick as their first board president,
they built Foothill Community College,
adding the DeAnza campus later.
Throughout the 30-year history of
Foothill and DeAnza Community Col-
lege, Smithwick has been a guiding
influence and strong leader in the devel-
oping life of the college. In his shared
leadership he has seen the college grow
from its beginning enrollment of 1,500
students to the present 40,000 to 50,000
students, making it the largest com-
munity college in California and the
fourth largest in the United States.
If the sum of all his accomplish-
ments was this educational enterprise
alone, it would be enough for praise.
However, during all these years Smithwick-
was engaged with the community col-
lege, he was involved with other com-
munity concerns as well. The follow-
ing are a few of the organizations in
which he has served: President of the
Santa Clara County Dental Society;
member of the Board of Directors of
the California Dental Society; member
of the Advisory Committee on Public
School Health; chairman of the Com-
mittee of Dental Auxiliaries, State of
California; member of the State Legis-
lative Committee of the American Asso-
ciation of Retired Persons; member of
the California Association of Community
Colleges; President of the Sunnyvale
Community Council; invited by Pres-
ident Johnson to participate in the White
House Conference on Health.
He has also received a number of
honors and awards, such as the ‘‘Reso-
lution of Commendation,’’ from the
California State Assembly, the ‘‘Meri-
torious Service Award’’‘ by the Ameri-
can College of Dentists, the ‘‘Pres-
idential Citation,’’ for outstanding com-
munity service by the American Dental
Association, and he has a letter of
commendation from California Governor
George Deukmajian.
During all this time he was a faithful
participant in the Mountain View Cen-
tral Seventh-day Adventist church. He
has served his church as elder, head
deacon, Sabbath School superintendent
and a member of the Home Missionary
Committee. As first elder he has been
chairman of the board of elders and
also chairman of the church board and
a number of other committees.
For Smithwick, these activities were
the way he witnessed for his Lord and
his church. Wherever he went, people
knew he was a Seventh-day Adventist.
The 30-year commemorative party for
the community college was scheduled
on Friday afternoon rather than on Sat-
urday because they knew that Saturday
was his Sabbath.
Not many people know of his accom-
plishments. Bob Smithwick did not do
what he did for his own honor. He did
it because it was the best way he knew
how to serve his Lord and his church.
Being an Adventist is an intrinsic part
of his life. It is that life that sets an
example of what one man can accom-
plish when he becomes an instrument
of God in the world.
Robert M. Zamora is communica-
tion director for the Central California
Conference.
School read-a-thon raises
funds for encyclopedias
Virgil Hauselt Memorial Junior
Academy, near Santa Cruz, recently
participated in the World Book Partners
in Excellence Read-A-Thon.
“The purpose of the reading pro-
gram was to help the school encourage
and develop a greater interest in reading
among the children,” says Gary Gif-
ford, school principal.
The 92 students who participated read
a total of 3,750 books in a seven-week
period. Children collected pledges for
each book read from family and friends.
The funds applied toward the purchase
of The World Book Encyclopedia for
their classrooms. World Book matched
the money raised with a generous con-
tribution to help purchase the books.
The students’ rewards were gold and
silver medals plus certificates of achieve-
ment. The presentations were made dur-
ing a special program held in the school
gymnasium.
““The program was beneficial beyond
expectations,’’ reports Gifford. ‘‘Bene-
fits included greater student reading skills
plus increased and continued use of the
library. Parents started working with
their students to promote and fund the
project. Because of this, a number of
volumes of excellent research and read-
ing material valued at more than $5,000
have been made available to the stu-
dents from World Book.
“I’d like to thank each of the parents
and sponsors for the support they have
given the students who participated in
this activity,’’ concludes Gifford.
Northern
California
CONFERENCE
Camp meeting season
closes with Paradise
and Redwood area
The Paradise Convocation, July 8
to 11, and the Redwood Camp Meeting,
July 23 to August 1, bring Northern’s
camp meeting and convocation season
to aclose.
Paradise
The name of the Paradise Convoca-
tion, held at the Paradise Adventist
church, has been changed this year to
the ‘‘Northeast Area Convocation’ to
reflect the scope of the event. Its theme
is ‘‘Praise the Lord—Live His Word.”’
The Wednesday through Sabbath series
will feature Louis Venden, pastor of
the Loma Linda University church, begin-
ning the evening of July 8.
Thursday through Sabbath evening
speaker will be Bill Liversidge, church
growth consultant from Washington, D.C.
Liversidge will present a series explor-
ing the spiritual gifts and baptism of
the Holy Spirit and what it means to
Christians today. This Spiritual Gifts
Seminar will continue at the Paradise