Jaimee Karroll-Smith

Jaimee Lynn
Karroll-Smith

Educator and Hero of Forgiveness Award Winner Jaimee Karroll

August 17, 1954 - June 14, 2013

Jaimee Lynn Karroll-Smith, author, educator, and winner of the 2008 World Forgiveness Alliance's Hero of Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Peace award, passed away at age 58 after living with ovarian cancer for 6 years.

Jaimee was born in Roslyn Heights, New York to Zena and Joseph Karroll. She moved with her family to Pennsylvania and then to California in 1961, where she remained throughout her life.

An avid mountaineer and backpacker during her early 20's, Jaimee attended the Colorado Outward Bound survival program and worked at REI, where she met Randall Smith, her husband of the past 30 years who survives her.

Jaimee overcame severe dyslexia to earn a B.A. from Cal State Long Beach and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Mills College, Oakland. She became a Dean of Writing at Heald College in Oakland, and taught Business Writing at Contra Costa College. Jaimee was also a gifted artist whose beaded jewelry was featured in Northern California galleries.

Having survived an abduction and violent crime at age 9, Jaimee spent much of her life advocating for survivors of violence, and teaching others that both perpetrator and victim are harmed by violent acts. She owned Westword Institute from 1987-1994, which sponsored conferences on topics of abuse and violent crime with best-selling authors in the medical and mental health field. Jaimee served as an editor for Pamela Cooper-White's The Cry of Tamar: Violence Against Women and the Church's Response, and Ellen Bass' and Laura Davis' " Honoring the Truth: A Response to the Backlash" in The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Survivors of Child Abuse.

Jaimee was Board Chair of Bay Area Women Against Rape from 2005-2009, where she gave victim impact speeches and participated on panels for a variety of causes. In 2007 she attended an Insight Prison Project (IPP) Victim Offender Education Group facilitator training, and it was there that she discovered her life's passion. Jaimee spent the past 5 years working at IPP and facilitating groups for inmates in San Quentin. She led them to discover the impact of their crime on the victims, on themselves, and on their respective families. Jaimee traveled around the country assisting organizations like HomeBoy Industries in Los Angeles with implementing the IPP curriculum.

In 2008 Jaimee was named a Hero of Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Peace by the World Forgiveness Alliance. The "Men in Blue", as San Quentin inmates refer to themselves, honored Jaimee's life and work in a moving ceremony that Jaimee attended in frail health just 3 weeks before she died.

In the early years of her illness, Jaimee chronicled her challenges of living with cancer in "Chemosabe", a series of humorous and poignant essays. In 2009 she called upon a small group of friends and family to form a transformative " Circle of Support," which met regularly to provide encouragement and support for Jaimee and her husband, and for one another. She began writing a book about the Circle process in the weeks before she died.

In addition to her beloved husband Randall, Jaimee is survived by her Uncle Sandy and Aunt Marilyn Leonard, sister Jodee Steiner, brother Jon (Ann) Karroll, nieces and nephews Hannah, Daniel, Rebekah, Jordan and Alex, "adopted" brother Steve Ritter, brothers-in-law Steve (Barbara), Laird (Karin), Doug (Sherry) and their children as well as many dear friends that gave generously of themselves in her last days.he is preceded in death by her parents Zena Gatov and Joseph Karroll and her in-laws Robert and Elizabeth Smith.

There will be a private service for family and friends. In lieu of flowers, Jaimee requested that donations be sent to the Prison University Project (http://www.prisonuniversityproject.org) or another charitable organization.