Smitty Smith lives in Prunedale, in Monterey County, California.

He is retired teacher. He has taught in both public and private schools, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, community colleges and a university. He has taught Spanish, French, Portuguese, English, ESL, History, Photography, Remedial Reading.

He attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, receiving a BA in Spanish in 1960. He got an MA in Spanish at the University of Texas at Austin in 1964. After teaching for a year at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras, he did graduate work in Spanish, Portuguese and Humanities at Stanford University where he failed to get his PhD. His studies for the California Teacher's Credential were done at San Jose State University in San Jose, California.

He has retired three times and returned to full-time teaching twice. In retirement he took courses (in music, art and multimedia) at Hartnell College, in Salinas, California. He has also been an adjunct instructor of Spanish at Hartnell College and at Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey. His most recent full-time teaching job was as a Migrant Resource Teacher in Salinas.