Scott Swanson
Family members recall Christine Marie Tiffany Smith as a “kind,” intelligent woman who intensely loved her 3-year-old daughter and was working to improve her situation in life.
Smith, 29, who grew up in Sweet Home, was allegedly strangled by her boyfriend Jan. 25 and died Monday night, Jan. 27, of her injuries in a Corvallis hospital.
Devin Paul Hansen, 30, was arrested Jan. 27 on a variety of assault-related charges. Those were later dropped and Hansen was charged with murder. He was arraigned on that charge Thursday, Jan. 30, and is being held without bail at Linn County Jail.
“She had a very kind heart,” said Smith’s mother, Roxanne Smith of Sandy, Utah. “She loved children.”
Christine Smith moved to Sweet Home from southern Texas when she was 3, according to her aunt, Rogene Stock of Sweet Home, with whom she lived while her mother finalized their move.
She went to school at Hawthorne Elementary before moving on to Sweet Home Junior High and High School, where she was a top student, regularly appearing on the Honor Roll and earning entry into the National Honor Society as well as her Certificate of Initial Mastery.
During high school she competed in water polo, swimming and track and field four years straight, earning 12 letters.
“She was very athletic,” her mother said, noting that a young nephew in Florida competed in his first meet in Christine’s honor on Saturday, Feb. 1.
She was very active in Girl Scouts, which had a strong presence in Sweet Home in those days, from kindergarten through eighth grade. Roxanne Smith was an assistant troop leader.
“She was the top cookie sales person for two years in a row,” Smith recalled.
During her senior year of high school, Christine grew her hair out and after photos were taken, she got it cut and gave it to Locks of Love, an organization that creates wigs for cancer patients.
She was also involved in the Josai exchange program, through which she traveled to Japan as a high school sophomore. That was the year an engine on the jetliner the Sweet Home students and teacher Steve Hummer were riding in caught fire. Christine was the one who spotted the flames.
“She told Steve Hummer, ‘the plane’s on fire,’ but nobody believed her,” Roxanne Smith said. “Then they looked out the window.”
After graduating from high school in 2002 and briefly attending Linn-Benton Community College, Christine Smith went to International Air Academy, where she trained to work in airports and the travel industry, completing the course in the fall of 2004.
She continued her efforts in higher education, and was taking on-line college classes at the time of her death, her mother said.
“She wanted to go into a science field, either biology- or chemistry-related,” Roxanne Smith said. “That’s the sad part. She was so smart, very, very smart. She could’ve done anything.”
Christine Smith’s “biggest pride and joy” was her 3-year-old daughter Amaya, who is staying with her brother James and his wife, relatives said.
Smith also loved the Oregon Jamboree and had never missed one, her mother said.
“She went to the first concert when she was in third grade,” Roxanne Smith said. “She had been to every single festival, even if she lived out of state. She volunteered at them. She had not missed one.”
Relatives said that they are comforted by the fact that Christine was an organ donor and three people were beneficiaries of that.
“Because of this tragedy, three people are going to get to live from the organs she was able to donate,” Smith said.
“That’s a hopeful thing,” said Stock. “Three people can live now because of that. It’s just a waste. That’s how you feel. She was 30 years old. It’s just sad, sad, sad.”