Community mourns loss of Long Beach church leader killed while riding his bicycle in Seal Beach

Bagpipes played “Amazing Grace” as mourners gathered Sunday, Jan. 13, in a cold, muddy lot in Seal Beach to remember a Long Beach church leader and avid bicyclist who friends said died in a traffic collision on Friday.

The hastily arranged memorial drew at least 150 people who commemorated the life of Paul Smith, 64, who was riding his bike when he was fatally struck by a vehicle near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Seal Beach Boulevard, according to two friends who organized the event, Dave Beard and Chris Sutt.

The service took place at 4 p.m. on an unpaved sidewalk just a few feet away from where the collision happened.

Beard described Smith as a quiet, yet personable man who left a tremendous impression on his community as an elder at Parkcrest Christian Church, 3936 Woodruff Ave. in Long Beach.

“If you met Paul, within 10 minutes, he’d be your brother,” said Sutt.

He said Smith, a recently retired engineer for Bechtel Corp., had been a Parkcrest parishioner for over 30 years. The majority of the work he did for the church centered on youth groups, according to Beard, and his efforts to do good were not limited to the local community. After Hurricane Harvey struck Texas in 2017, Smith and Sutt traveled to flood-damaged areas and spent two weeks  volunteering to remove rotten wood flooring out of flood-ravaged buildings.

Smith was handy and fit up until the day he died, according to his friends. He was a passionate bicyclist who rode dozens of miles daily. He had just taken part in a 100-mile ride during Arizona’s annual El Tour de Tucson in November. Beard, a fellow cyclist, said Smith “rode fast” and was difficult to keep pace with.

“”All I would see was the takeoff, and he was gone,” he said.

Smith died doing what he loved, according to those who knew him, and his passing came as shock to his friends and family.

Bicyclists, parishioners and neighbors joined Smith’s wife, mother and two sons at Sunday’s memorial.