John Jeffrey Smith, 71, passed away September 8, 2021. A Celebration of his life will be held at 2:00pm, Friday, June 24, 2022 at Feigum Funeral Home.

John was born on June 24, 1950 in Aberdeen, South Dakota to Lorraine Aspelund Smith and Francis “Pete” Smith, who were attending Northern State Teachers College at the time. The family moved to Milbank, then to Peever, where John started school. These moves were followed by moves to Vermillion, Huron, Winner, back to Huron, then finally to Pierre. Summers were spent on the Smith farm near Browns Valley, MN. As a child it was playing in the barn or riding on the tractor, and eventually led to summer jobs at the family fireworks stand, then to stacking flax straw with his brothers Jim and Frank, and cousin Jim”Spook” Potter.

Like most people from Pierre, John loved the river. Growing up in Huron and Pierre, he spent winters ice skating and playing hockey, sailing an ice boat his dad made, and skiing. Summers were spent swimming and boating, water skiing, and playing tennis and golf.

John graduated from Huron High School in 1968. He kept busy in High School, where he played football, starred in the production of Our Town as the Stage Manager, and was in the homecoming court. In his off hours John played the cornet and sang backup in the band “The Natives”, along with his close friend Steve Wilson. They were only teenagers, but played all the roadhouses in the eastern part of South Dakota.

After months of scholarship offers arriving daily in the mailbox from colleges and universities across the country, John decided to accept a full ride scholarship to Columbia University in New York City, where he joined his cousin Spook. He left South Dakota on the first airplane flight of his life, and arrived in a city he had never been in. His years at Columbia were transformative, especially for a kid whose life had thus far been lived in small towns and on his grandparents’ farm.

John graduated from Columbia in 1972 with a BA in English and Philosophy. He returned to South Dakota and worked various jobs in Pierre. It was during this educational hiatus that John met and fell in love with Gayle Jirsa. The two were married 2 days after John had an emergency appendectomy and 2 days before he started Law School at the University of South Dakota in 1974. John graduated from Law School in 1977. John and Gayle went on to have 2 children, Abbey in 1978 and Sam in 1979.

Following his graduation from law school, John interned at the Homestake Mine Law Firm in Lead SD, and then for Chief Justice Roger Wollman of the South Dakota Supreme Court. He became an Assistant Attorney General before being appointed Secretary of Water and Natural Resources by then Governor Bill Janklow. From 1989-2002 John worked as a corporate attorney for ATC/Stream Media in Sioux Falls and New York City. He was very happy to return to life as a public servant, serving as General Counsel for South Dakota Public Utilities Commission(PUC). John retired from the PUC in 2015.

John was a brilliant, kind and humble man. He had a quick mind, and a sharp and often inappropriate sense of humor. He liked to talk…and talk some more. His dad referred to him as “The Professor” because of his ability to discuss something ad nauseam. John was respected by his colleagues as a responsible, intelligent, and approachable man.

John is survived by his children Abbey and Sam, his ex-wife Gayle, his sister Ann Johnston, brother in law Bob Johnston, niece and nephew Mary Johnston and Eric(Sarah) Johnston, great nephew Soren Johnston, and his many nieces and nephews and in-laws in the Jirsa family. John was preceded in death by his parents and his brothers, Jim and Frank.

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