Michael Smith

Born Jeffrey Gammello in Cleveland, Ohio, Smith was given up for adoption by his birth mother and was adopted by Floyd (Tony) and Marjorie (Worgull) Smith on January 8, 1963. His father worked for both the Cleveland Press and Cleveland Plain Dealer. His parents divorced in 1967 and his father married Rosalie Wolfe (nee Roth). The family moved to Toledo, Ohio, where his father worked at the Toledo Blade and then to Seattle, Washington, where his father worked at the Seattle Post Intellegencer. In 1971 the family moved to Chicago, where his father found a job at the Chicago Tribune. Unhappy with the constant moving required in the newspaper business, his father put his carpentry skills to use and became a contractor. The family lived in both Roger's Park and Morton Grove, Illinois. Tony and Rose separated in 1973 and, after spending a summer in St. Petersburg, Florida with his grandfather, Michael lived with his father in Wheeling, Illinois. In January 1974 he was sent to live with Marjorie and her husband, but the arrangement did not work out well. In August 1974 he was sent to live with his Aunt Mildred Minnich in Avon Lake, Ohio, where he attended Troy Junior High School. At the end of the school year Michael and his father moved to Tampa, Florida, where his father had started a home repair company. Michael attended H.B. Plant High School and graduated from there in 1978. He joined the United States Army in 1979 and served at duty stations at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Kirch-Goens, West Germany and Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. While at Fort Leavenworth he met Marla List and they were married on June 5, 1981. They separated in 1984 and were divorced in 1985. On July 26, 1984, their son Phillip Michael Smith was born. In July 2005 Michael met Juanita Craft and in September the two began dating. He proposed to her in June 2007 while vacationing on Martha's Vineyard and the two were married on April 26, 2008. The couple live in Lee's Summit, Missouri. In March 2006 Michael discovered his birth family.