Man of steel: Metallurgist never stops learning, giving

Even in his golden years metallurgist Ray Smith enjoys being close to nature’s minerals and metals. And though the word “metallurgist” isn’t foreign to most people, it’s not clearly understood either.

Smith said his technical specialty in his working years was “material science.” He defines it as being about the structure, uses, and strength of metal and how things are held together.

Even at 93, the Green Valley resident and former president of Michigan Technical University spends Tuesdays as a “Hazardous Abandoned Mine Finder” pinpointing locations, recording environmental data such as acid drainage and presence of wildlife, and erecting safety signs in a 10,000-square-mile area of south central Arizona.

He started on this mission in 1989, when the HAMF group had eight members. Four have since passed away, but Smith remains dedicated.

Beyond doing the work for the sake of safety, it also gives him opportunities to continue using his valuable knowledge.

Smith’s teammates are Pete Ribotto, 92; Don Blickede, 91; and Carter Beach, who is only 88.

Hazardous Abandoned Mine Finders are a volunteer group of the U.S. Forest Service. With their signs, tools, radios, GPS units and a good supply of water they thrive not only on locating hazardous mines and posting safety signs, but in arduous climbs.

Smith and his HAMF buddies have the knowledge of where 20th-century miners went searching to find successful mines.

Smith has an article explaining the work of HAMF in the August publication of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society.

“...Each week we gather at the starting base, unfold oft-used and tattered maps and trace out the day’s route...

“A day that will titillate the senses, stimulate the curiosity and then bring satisfaction as mine after mine reveals its hiding place….

“We are the men who fight to draw on the bounties that nature has to offer and in the process strive to do our fellow man good by helping prevent the unwary from venturing into unsafe man-built ... shafts where killer bees, rattlesnakes, scorpions, cougars and bears may have taken refuge or where crumbling rock waits for the tremor of man’s foot to break it loose.

“We are men of all walks of life with two things in common — love of the desert and the never-ending quest for minerals.”

Smith goes on these expeditions after two successful hip replacement surgeries; the most recent was in 2008.

Then and now

Working with abandoned mines, Smith also speaks openly about nearby active mines — and another that may come, Rosemont.

“Copper is an emotional issue here. People don’t really know what copper does. People don’t connect what they have to have with mining,” he said.

“We can’t do anything without copper. It’s in solar energy and anything electrical. All parts of machines are made with copper.”

He’s accumulated vast experience and knowledge in his 93 years earning a Bachelor of Science degree in mining and engineering from the University of Alaska and a Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Smith was president of Michigan Technical University from 1965 to 1979, where a six-story building bears his name.

One achievement Smith is quite proud of was increasing the size of MTU’s student body from 3,500 to about 7,500 during his tenure as president.

“I wanted to build up women’s enrollment. Half the Ph.D.’s I knew were women. We started a ‘Women in Engineering’ program that included civil, metallurgical, mining, mechanical and electrical engineering and sponsored students whenever we could.”

A distinctive memory

Another standout for Smith was becoming friends with Dr. Soichiro Honda and his wife, Sachi.

As successful entrepreneur of the auto manufacturing empire, Honda was the MTU commencement speaker in 1974.

“From the minute Dr. Honda started speaking, the students and the audience gave him their full attention... I witnessed a rare happening that day — a standing ovation to a commencement speaker,” Smith wrote in the book simply titled, “Honda.”

What keeps Smith active and going strong at 93? “I feel good,” he says.

When he’s not out with his buddies doing HAMF work Smith enjoys working on his acre property, which has colorful collections of mineral-laden rocks — and he keeps his intellect and curiosity current with reading.

“I read a lot,” he said. “I’ve got books all over the house.”

Contact Green Valley freelance reporter Ellen Sussman at ellen2414@cox.net.