Charles Smith

Charles Anthony Smith, age 62, of Ogden, Utah, passed away suddenly on November 1, 2025, while doing what he loved best – riding his dirt bike in the mountains.

Charles was born to Claudia Rubio and Chuck Smith, in Cordell, Oklahoma October 15, 1963. His father was career Air Force, so he grew up in many places including Sacramento, Korea, Australia and finally Mississippi, where he graduated high school. He started riding motocross and Coliseum Flat Track in Korea, and continued

racing motocross in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi.

He attended college at University of Southern Mississippi, where he got a Bachelor of Science degree in Polymer Science. After graduating, he moved to Massachusetts, where he attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst pursuing his doctorate. He completed his studies through his thesis, but did not defend it as life got in the way.

He settled in Granville, New York and worked at Saint-Gobain Performance Plastic, where he met and married Cynthia Dittmeier in 1998. They had a son, Charles Stewart, born in 2002.

They moved to Sacramento, and he started a job at Aerojet, first as a Manufacturing Engineer, and later as a Senior M&P Engineer. He worked on the Atlas V rocket, compliance for the Space Shuttle, and earned his Black Belt for The Design for Six Sigma.

After some significant life events, including divorce, he worked with his parents for Advance Resource Solutions (ARS) in 2014, doing Route Inventory, while riding his dirt bike and driving his jeep to map remote areas of the west for the Bureau of Land Management. While working for ARS, he met Karyn Newbill, whom he married on October 2 nd , 2025.

In 2015, Charles and Karyn moved to San Diego where he once again found work in his field. He worked for Meggitt, The Spaceship Company, and finally Northrop Grumman. They relocated to Ogden, Utah in 2022, when he began a new job at Northrop at Hill AFB, where they resided until his death.

Charles was an avid off-roader, in both his jeep and on his dirt bike. He rediscovered dirt bike racing when he moved to Utah, and went on to win a national title from NHHA, 1 st in his class (over 50) in 2023, and will win a 1 st in the UMORA league in the over 60 class, to be awarded posthumously.

He was known for his very subtle, sarcastic wit and dry sense of humor, and for always being willing to mentor, and help others. If you rode dirt bikes or off-roaded with him, you knew he'd make sure everyone made it home. He was known for some very creative fixes on the trail – duct tape and zip ties were his favorite tools!

He would have celebrated his 12 th clean/sobriety birthday on November 17 th , he was very proud of that.

He is survived by his wife, Karyn Newbill, son Charles Stewart Smith of Vermont, father Charles Malcolm Smith of Somerset, CA, brother Kenneth Smith and Sister Bonnie Wingate.

He will be greatly missed by many.