Obituary
Raquel Quintana Smith, 96, of Portland, Oregon, passed away peacefully on May 22, 2026, at the small, loving and very special care home (Northwest Adult Care) where she had lived her final two years. Her children were by her side in her final days.
Raquel was born in Brawley, California on April 30, 1930 to Victor Payan Quintana and Luisa Duran Quintana. She attended Reedley community college in Reedley, CA and then moved to San Francisco where she worked at an insurance company. In the city she met Barry Goodman Smith. They married on January 31st, 1959 in Sausalito, Calif.
They raised their children, Teresa and Mark, in Tiburon and later in Portola Valley, California.
All her life she loved having and tending to her indoor and outdoor plants. And she loved dogs. Her beloved fox terrier, Zorra, was practically her ‘firstborn’. As well, she doted on and adored her daughter’s four greyhounds.
When Raquel was a child living in the San Joaquin valley, a stray fox terrier and a very shy stray greyhound showed up one day at her family’s house and later became their pets. Her family surmised they had been abandoned by a neighboring Japanese American family who were forced to relocate to the internment camps without their pets. This became the impetus for Raquel to later have Zorra. This also influenced her daughter to later rescue greyhounds.
In the 1990s she worked as a teacher’s aide in the City of Menlo Park school system after becoming certified in that discipline. She enjoyed studying for that certification and made some dear friends while working there.
Interests of hers included playing the piano, water color painting, knitting scarves, going to thrift stores and socializing with friends and neighbors.
Raquel and Barry loved taking trips to Mexico and taking road trips to Oregon and Washington to visit Mark and Teresa.
After Barry’s passing in 2015 she moved to Portland, Oregon in 2016 to live close to her daughter.
Raquel is survived by her daughter, Teresa Smith; her son, Mark Smith, and his wife, Michelle; her siblings, Victor Quintana, Gilbert Quintana, Danny Quintana and Blanca Acuña; her niece, Rosie Smith, and by many extended family members. She was predeceased by her husband, Barry, in 2015 and by her sister, Vangie Dunn, in 2026.
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