Funeral services for former Santa Clarita City Councilman and Mayor Hamilton Clyde Smyth were held Saturday at Christ Lutheran Church in Valencia.

Smyth died Jan. 22 at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, where he was treated after suffering a massive stroke a week before. He was 80 years old.

“My dad’s last conscious memory was making plans for Japanese food with my mom, and then he went to sleep,” son and state Assemblyman Cameron Smyth said. “We should all be so lucky.”

Along with his City Council duties, Clyde Smyth served as superintendent for the William S. Hart Union High School District for 18 years.

“He served as superintendent for an unheard-of amount of time,” Cameron Smyth said. “Since his retirement in 1992, five others have served in that position.”

A Pasadena native, Smyth worked in the Pasadena School District in the 1950s and 1960s before taking a job with the Hart district in 1969 and moving to the Santa Clarita Valley in 1971.

In addition to serving as Hart district superintendent, Clyde Smyth was also chairman of the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital board, president of the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clarita Valley, president of the Newhall Rotary Club, district chairman of the Boy Scouts of America, and chairman of the Santa Clarita Health Care Association.

“He served in so many functions, I know I will not be able to name then all,” said the councilman’s longtime friend, Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. “Clyde taught me a lot. He was a great leader and a great communicator.”

Clyde Smyth’s other son, Air Force Lt. Col. Colin Smyth, also spoke at the service.

“My dad was the epitome of a leader and the standard by which I judge myself every day,” he said.

During his time at the church’s dais, Colin Smyth gestured toward the U.S. flag draped over his father’s nearby coffin.

“If you could see my dad now, you would see that he’s dressed in his Class-A uniform,” he said. “That’s how he wanted it.”

Clyde Smyth was a veteran of the Korean conflict, first enlisting in the Army and later serving as an officer in the Army reserves.

“Smyths don’t get drafted,” Colin Smyth said. “When our country needs us, we volunteer.”

The flag covering the elder Smyth’s coffin was a family heirloom passed down through three generations of Smyth veterans.

“This is the same flag that rested atop his father’s casket in 1981,” Colin Smith said. “My dad gave me that flag to do the same thing for him.”

Clyde Smyth was interred at Eternal Valley Memorial Park Mortuary in Newhall, following a private ceremony for family members.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Sue Smyth, sons Colin and Cameron Smyth, daughters-in-law Kathleen and Lena, and five grandchildren.