Damita Jo Goldsmith was born July 29, 1951, in Dennison, Texas, the oldest of her parents’ five children. Since her father was in the Air Force, she moved to Guam with her family at age seven. After living in Guam for two years, the family relocated again to the Philippines for another two-year period. Ms. Goldsmith and her family returned to the U.S. in 1962, and the family migrated to the D.C. region after a month’s stay with her father’s family in Louisiana. After living in the District for a year and attending J. C. Nalle Elementary School, Ms. Goldsmith and her family moved to Chapel Oaks, Maryland. After a few years in Chapel Oaks, they moved to Capitol Heights, Maryland, and she graduated from Fairmont Heights High School the year before integration in that area, 1969. Ms. Goldsmith went on to attend Morgan State University where she met her husband and graduated in 1973. The two married a few years after graduation and had two sons. Ms. Goldsmith began her career at UPS as a part-time clerk in 1979 and later joined the management team. She retired in 2007 and has worked as the senior activity coordinator at the Glenarden Community Rec Center since then.