KENNETH MURRY SMART JR.

Anchorage resident Kenneth Murry Smart Jr., 59, died Jan. 29, 2004, near his home in Big Lake.

Kenneth Smart Jr. was born Sept. 21, 1944, in Grand Rapids, Minn., to the parents of Kenneth Murry Smart Sr. and Monica B. Walsh.

He graduated from Nashwauk Minnesota High School in 1963. He then attended the Don More Beauty College. In 1964, he became an instructor at the college. The following year he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. In January 1966 he transferred from Lackland Air Force Base to Elemendorf and served through August 1969.

Mr. Smart had been an Anchorage resident until moving to Big Lake in 1991.

He was a teamster and worked in Amchitka and Prudhoe Bay.

He had a special interest in boxing. In 1964 he won the Minnesota Golden Gloves and in 1969 he won the Alaska Golden Gloves. While stationed at Elemendorf he fought as a light welterweight in seven amateur fights in the old Anchorage Community Center. In 1965 he had won 76 of 83 fights. In 1965 he lost in the finals of the worldwide Air Force tournament.

Mr. Smart's family said, "He was very special and loved dearly by family and friends."

He is survived by seven sisters, Mona Smith and Norma Link of Anchorage, Ramona Kammer Meyer and Kay Campbell of Hibbing, Minn., Sharon Lamere of Iron, Minn., Joy Sanders and Melody Lesetmoe of Anoka, Minn.; four brothers, Red Smart of Palmer, Larry Smart of Soldotna, Dar Smart of Anchorage, and Herb Smart of Nashwauk, Minn.; 20 nieces and nephews and 23 great-nieces and -nephews.

A Celebration of Life will be held Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. at the American Legion Post 15 in Palmer.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The American Heart Association, 157 W. Fireweed Lane, Suite 100, Anchorage, AK 99503.

Cremains will be buried near his parents Kenneth Smart Sr. and Monica Walsh Smart at Maple Hill Cemetery in Hibbing, Minn.