Walter Franklin Smith

Walter Franklin Smith Walter Franklin Smith was born March 23, 1926, and died Friday, July 11, 2008. Walter died at the age of 82, due to complications from a stroke. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. and moved frequently during his childhood living mostly in the Pittsburgh area and New England. After graduating from high school in Quincy, Mass. in 1944, Walter Smith entered World War II, fighting in the War of Japan in the Navy aboard the aircraft carrier the Bon Homme Richard. Upon returning from the war, he was admitted to Harvard College and earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1950, followed by a bachelor of sacred theology (STB, 1953) and a master's of sacred theology (STM, 1954) from Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1961. He was a minister for 24 years, serving United Church of Christ parishes in Quincy, Mass., New Haven, Conn. at Center Church on the Green and in Glen Ellyn, Ill. at The First Congregational Church, and while a graduate student he was the assistant minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard. In New Haven, Dr. Smith also was an adjunct professor at New Haven College, teaching a course in World Literature from Homer to Dante. In 1975, Dr. Smith left the ministry and recruited physicians to work in medically underserved areas of the United States. He retired from this profession in 1995, and volunteered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the American Museum of Natural History, all in New York City. He also taught a course at New York University on The Four Gospels. Dr. Smith is survived by four daughters, Rebecca Steere of Yonkers, N.Y., Charlotte (Henry) Brennan of Baldwin, Md., Cheryl (Brian) Wolf of Ridgefield, Conn. and Miriam (Peter) Mastrobuono of Mahopac, N.Y.; four grandsons; and his longtime devoted companion, Frances Marie Marsh. A memorial service will be held at Center Church on the Green in New Haven and interment will be in Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven. Memorial donations can be made in his memory to the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 1131, Fairfax, VA, 22038.