A pool service technician died after a swimming pool filter top popped off, shooting up and shattering his skull.

Stephen Smith, 42, owner of Quality Pool and Spas in Holladay, Utah, died of his injuries after servicing a residential swimming pool filter on June 24.

His wife, Janine, said Smith was at the house of his final client for the day when something went wrong, caused by “a faulty pool filter.” She said the exact details of what happened are still under investigation, and OSHA is involved.

Stephen and Janine became owners of Quality Pool and Spas, a repair business, in March of 2022. Prior to his work as a pool repair technician, Smith worked as a nurse at the University of Utah. The Smiths met each other in the Air Force, where he was an Air Force Reserve flight nurse. He started his career as a volunteer firefighter.

According to Janine, Smith was passionate about serving. Until the day he died, he served as a search and rescue volunteer for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, where he would often respond to distress calls from hikers and others who found themselves in dangerous predicaments.

Smith’s neighbor, Greg Anderson, has organized a GoFundMe campaign to support the Smith family. Anderson said the money will go toward assisting the family with overwhelming “end-oflife” medical bills, as well as helping to finish off a project Smith had started in his backyard.

“He was a very handy guy, and he had completely rebuilt their backyard,” Anderson said.

Anderson added that Smith had removed his home’s back deck and rebuilt it. He was also building a separate area of the yard for Janine to garden. Smith hadn’t finished the work yet and had planned to finish it while his wife and daughters went on vacation later on the week he died.

Neighbors and friends of the Smith family, as well as funds from the GoFundMe, will contribute to completing the project that Smith can no longer finish. Anderson said that friends and neighbors were returning the love they’d received.

“The money’s nice; the money’s important,” Anderson said. “But this is a guy who deserves to be honored and deserves to be remembered.”

Smith leaves behind his wife, Janine, and two young daughters, Lillian and Abigail.