Glenda Smith

1946 - 2020

Glenda Smith Glenda Smith, 73, a former Olympian reporter, columnist and copy editor, died on Friday, March 20, at her home in Thornton, Colo. Burial has taken place at the Broomfield Commons Cemetery in Broomfield, Colo. She was known as Glenda Helbert when the worked at The Olympian from 1978 to 1992. That year she married Phil Smith and moved to Boise, Idaho. In 1994 they moved to Colorado. Glenda was born in 1946 in Sterling, Colo., and grew up on a dryland farm near the town of Willard. She was the fourth of five children born to Georgia and Joe Thomas. She is survived by her husband of 27 years, Phil; son Steve Helbert, his wife Siri and daughter Mina of Seattle; two other grandchildren, Dylan and Caleb; sisters Josephine Matros and Charlene Wells; Josephine's husband Ken; and numerous nephews and nieces. Glenda's brothers, Robert and George, preceded her in death. Glenda worked in newspapers for 20 years, first at two newspapers in Kansas: the Salina Journal and Hutchinson News. At The Olympian, her 1981 series of three articles, "Shannon Sees With New Eyes," won third place in Northwest regional competition from the Society of Professional Journalists.