Gerald Smith's Website -

My Blog - Joel's Monastery       Currently I'm writing on the New Testament LDS Gospel Doctrine lessons.  The Old Testament LDS Gospel Doctrine lessons are also at the blog.

Mail me at: geraldsmith at juno.com - (Remove the spaces when you send. It helps cut down on spammers for me)

 My Bio

 Where I'm from...

I'm originally from Spokane, Washington and grew up in Missoula, Montana.Okay!

My Mom's family is from North Dakota.  Her grandparents immigrated from the Ukraine, as German-Russians. Here is a map of the area, they are from Odessa area.

Other German-Russian links are the Odessa Site, and the AHSGR.

On my father's side, I am of Mormon stock, and a proud member of theMacDonald of Clanranald Scottish clan. 
My line also comes through the Mayflower via John Howland, and links to early European royalty, including King Edwards I/II/III, Prince/King John (Robin Hood and Magna Carta fame), William the Conqueror, Charlemagne, and Odo Count of Paris (not related to the Star Trek:Deep Space Nine shape shifter).

Check out my Genealogy on my Dad's side (Smith)
Check out my Genealogy on my Mom's side (Heidt)

 Wife and Kids... 
I am married for eternity to a wonderful woman, Ramona, originally from Indianapolis. I have three stepchildren: Aaron, Michal (a girl) and John.

Aaron married a wonderful young lady named Laura and they've made me grandfather of Jonathan, Jessica, Aaron, Alyssa and Ashley. Aaron spent 10 years in the Air Force, and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is now full time in college for a medical degree.

Michal is married to John, and they have 2 children, Jacob and Mason, always laughing and smiling.

Our youngest son, John, served a mission to Alaska and now is working and enjoying the single life..

 My work experiences...

I'm retired from the Air Force, where I spent 16 1/2 years in Montgomery, Alabama where I worked for the Headquarters Standard Systems Group (HQ SSG), the Air Force's largest software development agency. I have worked as a Computer Programming Technician, although I haven't programmed much in 10 years. I was involved in Software Distribution via Web/CDROM (making hundreds of CDs every week), Reusable software component distribution, Domain engineering, Lan Administration of a Novell Network (3.1x), Small Computer Manager, Air Force CD-ROM guru, Web developer, and involved in computer hardware and software acquisition, including the $2.7 billion Desktop V contract.
Prior to working with computers, I was a military working dog handler/Security Policeman in the Air Force for 4 years. I worked with patrol and bomb dogs in Texas and Osan AB Korea.

We now live in Indianapolis, where I worked for 2 years as an office manager for a company that makes components for race cars. We make hubs, oil pumps, starters, alternators, exhaust systems and other parts. So the next time you see an Indy or Nascar, chances are parts of it are from this shop. 

Currently, I work for the Indiana Dept of Corrections as a classification specialist at the Plainfield Re-entry Educational Facility. It is the first, and currently only facility in the USA of its type. We take offenders (called residents) with less than 3 years left on their incarceration, and do intensive work with them to prepare for life on the outside. The facility has been going for 3 years (as of Jan 2006), and has seen lots of success. My job is to ensure residents are engaged in jobs and schooling. I also am the hearing officer, judging crimes occurring inside the facility.

 Politics...
I'm a pragmatic conservative-libertarian, with strong belief in the Constitution as originally viewed by the majority of our ForeFathers. I'm against abortion in most cases. I'm against judges creating law, feeling as did Thomas Jefferson that judges are the quickest way to tyranny in government. I'm for personal responsibility and moving government to the lowest levels possible.

I am for freedom of speech, and allowing all sides to share their ideas, based on reason. I'm for the government assisting in educating the mind, but not indoctrinating the mind. That only an educated and reasoning people can truly be free. Ignorant and illiterate people are doomed to slavery.  I believe that our current school system has some successes, but too many failures, due to politics getting in the way of educating kids on the important things.

I'm against federal regulation cluttering up our lives, causing poor people to be poorer than they need to be, due to the high cost of regulation. I believe in personal freedom, but only so far as it doesn't threaten society's existence. I also believe that prison doesn't work for most crimes. We ought to consider natural alternatives such as:  doubled restitution for theft, caning for abusive husbands, and a real penalty for mass murderers. Although I recognize the scriptural authorization of death penalty by governments, I also recognize that it is not a scriptural requirement to have the death penalty. I'm not against it, nor am I necessarily for it. I am for punishing violent criminals and dropping the recidivism rate. 

Punishment must not turn minor criminals into major criminals (which is what prison tends to do) and must be an effective deterrent to future offenses. Rehabilitation is also important, especially for young delinquents and nonviolent offenders. 
Schools must be run on the state/local level and give parents school choice. The National Education Association needs to be broken up as a monopoly that negatively affects both teachers and students. Teachers should work for parents and the people, not for the government or a union. We need to reenthrone the role of teacher as a calling from on high.
 Mormon). I served on a ( Bolivia Mission from 1978-1980 (you know, it's where Butch and Sundance were killed). I'm currently a High Priest Group Leader. In the past, I've served as Stake Clerk, Bishopric, Ward Mission Leader, Melchizedek Group Leader,
Troy University in Montgomery.
Bird watching,
Nature photography,
reading deep historical literature and science
Ancient Near East stuff
Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research (FAIR)
LDS Net
Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS)/Maxwell Institute
Genealogy
My wife, kids, and grandkids


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