Fund started for funeral expenses of car-accident victims

PORT ANGELES - An account that will accept donations for Jeff Smith, whose wife and three children died Friday in a car accident, has been established at a Port Angeles bank.

Friends of the Smith family said the account at Washington Mutual will help the 35-year-old man pay for a funeral for his family. Services are at 3 p.m. today in the gymnasium of Crescent High School in Joyce, Clallam County.

Jeff's wife, Sara Smith, 26, and their three children - Samantha, 3, Nathan, 2, and Robert, 3 months, were killed on their way to drop Samantha off at preschool Friday morning when their car hit a patch of ice on Highway 112, about eight miles west of Port Angeles.

The car slid into the path of an oncoming logging truck, was hit and burst into flames, police said.

The driver of the truck, Ronald Young of Forks, was not hurt. Police said no charges will be filed against him.

Sara and Jeff Smith met in 1993 while she was a student at Peninsula College in Port Angeles. They married within a year, her mother said.

Jeff Smith, 35, owns a construction business that specializes in manufactured homes. The family made a number of financial sacrifices to allow Sara Smith to stay home with the children, friends said.

Anyone one wishing to make a donation to the Jeff Smith Fund may do so at any Washington Mutual Bank branch.

Christine Clarridge's phone message number is 206-464-8983. Her e-mail address is cclarridge@seattletimes.co.