Women's Services

Desiree

Her Samoan mother and U.S. Marine father gave Desiree Smock a love of her Polynesian heritage and a unique childhood-she attended 13 elementary schools, followed by high school in Hawaii. Always passionate about life, Desiree played tennis, volleyball, basketball, and softball; studied trumpet, drama, literature, art, and history; and was remembered for her great smile.

The next several years brought unexpected change. During her first semester at BYU-H, Desiree was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Pacific Ocean. She transferred to London, where she studied Shakespeare, cleaned old buildings, and worked at the campus snack shop. Her life continued unpredictably: after an unsuccessful marriage, Desiree found herself in 1988 as a single mother raising a baby daughter, studying comparative literature at BYU, and enrolled in the U.S. Marine Corp Officer Candidate School. As a tribute, Desiree's captain remarked, "Sargent, you have the broadest shoulders of anyone I've ever met."

In 1990 she met Robert Smock and began what she remembers as the sweet process of "starting again and creating something beautiful from something broken." She is currently an "M.D." (managing director) of a "small conglomerate comprised of three daughters and one son."
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Desiree