Galen Smith

Galen Dee Smith

FEBRUARY 16, 1953 – JULY 13, 2020

Galen Dee Smith, 67, of Argyle, Texas, formerly of Boulder and Longmont, Colorado, passed away on July 13, 2020 after a two and a half year long battle with mesothelioma cancer from asbestos exposure. 

He was born in Wichita, Kansas and moved to Boulder at the age of 3. After graduating from Boulder High School in 1971, he joined Local #3 of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union and earned both a Journeyman Plumbing license and a Master Plumbers license. 

He was best known in the Boulder area as the owner and operator of Noah Plumbing & Heating from 1981 to 2017. He was the friendly face that showed up at the door when your plumbing backed up in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner or you started to panic when the air conditioning at your restaurant went out on the hottest day of the year. Of course after fixing your problem he needed a few minutes to catch up with the latest news about your children or pet your dog’s head. He even extended his plumbing expertise to Guatemala, traveling twice to Guatemala City to address the plumbing needs of a girls orphanage. 

He was passionate about his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, his family, bike riding, animals, and war history. 

He was a long time member of First Presbyterian Church of Boulder (now Grace Commons) and Calvary Bible Church of Boulder. He enjoyed teaching Sunday School to young children and also volunteered in the youth program. 

He is survived by his wife Marilyn of 48 years, daughters, Kareen Goodson and her husband John of Jamesville, New York, Leslie Howard, and her husband Jerry Paul of Mead Colorado, and son, Dale and his wife Jamie of Trophy Club, Texas. He also leaves behind a sister, Sybil Cochran of Katy, Texas, and brother, Warren Smith, of Boulder. If you wanted to see his eyes light up just mention one of his seven grandchildren: Zachary and Natalie Goodson, Calvin, Jackson and Henry Howard, and Kinley and Dalton Smith. He was preceded in death by his father, Morris Smith, mother Estel Smith, brother, Loren Smith, and sister, Nila Lies. 

A celebration of life service to be held at noon on Wednesday, July 22nd at Ahlberg Funeral Chapel located at 326 Terry Street Longmont, Colorado. The service will be limited to immediate family due to Covid restrictions, but will be live streamed for extended family and friends to attend remotely. A public viewing will precede the ceremony from 9:00am to 11:00am at the same location. Burial will follow the ceremony at Mountain View Memorial Park located at 3016 Kalmia Avenue, Boulder, Colorado. 

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation located at 1615 L Street NW, Suite 430, Washington, DC 20036 or curemeso.org. To leave an online condolence to the family, please visit our website at www.ahlbergfuneralchapel.com

Remembrances of BHS classmates:  

Remembering all of the fun get togethers in our younger days!  Laying sod in a blizzard, having to reset the rolls of grass when the snow melted!  Baby showers, both of you being in our wedding!  Raising the kids together!  Missing you when you moved to Kansas City and Texas!  

The Piper Family

Galen and I attended junior high school and high school together.  At Boulder High, we qualified for the state high school track meet our senior year.  Galen was an excellent sprinter, strong and very fast.  But more importantly he was a fine teammate.   

Bud Jenkins

I first met Galen in 7th grade; he was an outstanding hurdler.  Glen had such a gentle self-effacing personality.  We played softball together and worked construction together on the CU recreation project.  I remember he was an emergency response volunteer at the Burger King parking lot bombing and was deeply affected by that tragedy.  We also were very good friends when we were both members at first Pres.  

He was a good Christian man with a servant’s heart.  

Dan Dible

His house was a pit stop when we rode our bikes to the Rez.  

Robert Sayre

Galen always had a smile on his face and kindness in his heart.  

Beckie Miller Alexander.  

Marilyn Smith, Galen’s wife, shared Galen’s stories, which were then written by Mary Sigley Brown:  

Galen Smith was not the life of the party and that was just fine with him.  Not one for small talk, he enjoyed one-on-one friendships above all, specifically with Bob Woltman, Rob Piper, Phil Wigotow, Kathy Best, Ramona Pate, Dan Dible, and Patty Fisher.  The Centennial crowd.  He was quiet, introverted, very caring and a gentle soul — a really nice guy.   

When Galen Smith graduated BHS he immediately joined the plumbing union, and in November 1971 he married the love of his life, Marilyn, with whom he shared the next 48 years.  Their marriage produced two daughters, a son, two granddaughters, and five grandsons.   A man of strong Christian faith, Galen was certain what he wanted and followed a straight and diligent path to his goals in partnership with his loving wife.  

First Presbyterian of Boulder was the church where Galen worshipped from 1975-2000, serving in the capacity of deacon, parishioner, Sunday School teacher, and junior high school group leader.  He participated with other parishioners on several missionary trips to Guatemala.   Thereafter, he joined in fellowship at Calvary Bible on Kalmia Street in Boulder where he and Marilyn participated in Bible study and taught Sunday school.   

Early in his career, Galen worked as a union plumber in new build commercial plumbing, but soon redirected his path to repair and service plumbing exclusively.  In an act of faith, Galen started his own business, “Noah Plumbing.”  The name, which Marilyn proposed and Galen agreed upon, embodied the Biblical reference to water and Noah’s devout faith in following the Lord’s direction to build an ark.  Referrals, not advertisement, were his business strategy.  Overwhelming success followed his “one man show” because his client base was as loyal to him as he was to them.  He went above and beyond in effort for his clientele, but would laugh and say of work for himself “Well, that’s good enough for who it’s for.”  

Though he worked alone almost exclusively, he maintained a union shop, hiring only union workers on occasion, paying his dues, and utilizing union benefits.  Marilyn shared, with retrospective humor, that almost  the only time a client stiffed Galen, was for his emergency installment of a hot water heater on Christmas Eve.  St. Galen likely earned points in Heaven for that one.   

The Smith family moved along the front range between Boulder, Longmont, Mead, and Windsor,  Marilyn was the disciplinarian and Galen was the kind and gentle parent.  He cautioned the kids “Don’t mess with the Mom.”  Their plumbing business thrived until they closed down in 2017 to move near their son, Dale, in Argyle, Texas, where Galen  took on the role of building inspector for the City of Flower Mound.  Though they were saddened to leave their daughter and 3 Colorado grandsons, Galen and Marilyn wanted a warmer climate.  They were embraced in Texas by a son and his wife, grandson and granddaughter.   Galen had always enjoyed bike riding alone around his community.  Soon his son, Dale, joined him and to this day, Dale is an avid bike rider in Texas.  

Galen always enjoyed great health.  Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Mesothelioma 18 months after moving to Texas.  It took 5 months of complicated testing to confirm the devastating diagnosis.  Though Mesothelioma is not completely understood in its origin or manifestation, it is 100% fatal.  Galen apparently had multiple contacts with asbestos laden products as a plumber.   He received every possible treatment from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and Keytruda immunotherapy. Testing additionally revealed that Galen carried the BRCA 2 gene which possibly made him vulnerable to cancer.  His children were tested and the two of three who inherited BRCA 2 have undergone prophylactic medical intervention to avoid developing cancers for which they might be at risk one day.  Galen’s BRCA 2 testing may have saved the lives of his children.    

Valiant in his fight, Galen stayed cheerful, smiling, and laughing.  He worked until 3 months preceding his death.  He lived 2 years after his diagnosis when the prognosis was one year.  Marilyn, an RN, took extraordinary care of him.  On July 1, 2020, it was sadly discovered that his cancer had spread to his brain, which occurs in only 3% of victims.  By July 13, 2020, his struggle ended peacefully.  Though he was unconscious and heavily sedated, he never gasped for air, a blessing for which the entire family was grateful.  Galen was a trooper as he endured his fate.      

He took on litigation against manufacturers who had failed to disclose the presence of asbestos in their pipes, valves, boilers, and plumbing products, winning a settlement to provide Marilyn with financial stability she needs to live without him.  He wondered how defense lawyers for the manufacturers of unlabeled asbestos products are able to sleep at night.