Benjamin F. Smith

95, passed away Thursday, August 7, at home in Spruce Head, St. George, Maine. He was the sixth Director of Perkins School for the Blind. Mr. Smith came to Perkins in 1936 with the Harvard Course teacher-training class. In 1937, he joined the Perkins teaching staff. Smith met his wife, Joan, at Perkins. They married in 1947. He retired in 1977 and was named Director Emeritus. He was the first visually impaired person to head the school. In addition to his wife, Joan Baum Smith of Spruce Head, ME, he is survived by one daughter Pamela J. Shepard Boland and her husband Thomas of Bedford, MA; a son Glen T. Smith of Spruce Head, ME; a sister Dorothy Gilsdorf of Louisville, KY; grandchildren Thomas B. Shepard of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Kevin M. Shepard of Hoboken, NJ, and Elizabeth Boland of Bedford, MA. Services have been held. Benjamin Smith's family has asked that donations in his name be made to Perkins School for the Blind, Attn: Perkins Trust, 175 No. Beacon St., Watertown, MA 02472, and three Maine organizations he supported.