Smithers, James Richard
James Richard (Jamie) Smithers, 48, of St. Petersburg, Fla. and formerly of Christiansburg, passed away on Monday, March 31, 2008, as the result of a traffic accident late on Sunday.
Jamie was born May 22, 1959, in Charleston, W.Va. He grew up in the Christiansburg, Va. area and was a 1977 graduate of Christiansburg High School. He also had Bachelor of Science degrees from both Radford University in Radford, Va. and University of Tampa. Jamie moved to the Tampa Bay area in 1992.
Jamie had a variety of career paths during his life. He was employed at Home Shopping Network in the Marketing Department for a number of years. For the past seven years, he was employed at Regions Bank as a teller.
He was a member of King of Peace Metropolitan Community Church and several community and social organizations. His latest endeavor was with the community band Second Time Around. He was looking forward to performing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City later this year.
Jamie is survived by his partner of 10 years, Michael Dye. He is also survived by his father and mother, Donald and Drema Smithers; sister, Theresa (Smithers) Martin and her husband, Johnny Martin; niece, Tracie (Martin) Cook and her husband, Rob, and their children, Ryan and Shellie; and nephew, JC Martin and his wife, Amelia, all of Christiansburg, Va. He also leaves behind scores of friends.
Services will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 3, 2008, at the King of Peace Metropolitan Community Church in St. Petersburg, Fla.
As an ardent animal lover, in lieu of flowers, Jamie would have wanted donations to your local animal services organization in order to further their work. The world was a better place for Jamie having been with us. His wit, sense of humor, kindness, concern for others, and passion for his causes will be sorely missed by his family, friends, coworkers, and their pets, Brandy, Dewy and Thomas.