Dr. Ransan L. Smith

1922 - 2009

Green Valley, Ariz., resident Ransan L. "Pete" Smith, MD, passed away June 1, 2009. His four children and beloved wife, Valerie Smith, were with him during his final days.

He was born Aug. 31, 1922, in Duncombe, Iowa, the youngest of six children in a farming family. His parents, Lee and Celia Smith, his four brothers and one sister, all preceded him in death. He studied at the University of Iowa following his graduation from Lehigh High School in 1939, the only member of his family to attend college.

Smith obtained his Medical Doctor degree from the University of Iowa in 1947, following service in the Army from 1943 to 1946. While in the Army, he attended the Sheffield Scientific School special medical training program at Yale University.

In 1946 he married Shirley Clark at the University of Iowa, with whom he had four children, Steven, David, Gregory and Carol. Nine grandchildren also survive him: Beth, Joel, Peter, Corrie, Craig, Lisa, Mackenzie, Lilly and Cooper.

Following medical school, he interned at Deaconess Hospital, Spokane, after which he went into private practice in Oroville, Wash. With the onset of the Korean War, Dr. Smith was recalled into active duty as an Air Force captain, serving as an administrator of the Hills Field base hospital in Utah until 1953. Upon his discharge, he undertook a two-year general surgical residency at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic, followed by a second surgical residency at the Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y.

He and his wife loved the Pacific Northwest and returned there in 1957, settling in Longview, where Dr. Smith practiced medicine until 1979. Affectionately known to his friends as "Doc," he was an active member of the Lions Club and the Longview Country Club. He was also an avid golfer, bowler, hiker and fisherman.

Dr. Smith was a member of the American Medical Association throughout his career, and was a diplomat to the American Board of Surgery beginning in 1961. He was also a member of the Pan-Pacific Surgical Association, the American Association of Railway Surgeons and, in 1971, became a charter member of the American College of Emergency Physicians. In 1963 and 1964, he served on the HOPE hospital ship in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and performed medical missions in the jungles of Ecuador and Peru.

In 1979, Dr. Smith moved to Walla Walla, where he served as a staff physician for the Veterans Administration and, in 1980, married his colleague, Dr. Valerie Bandelin. He retired from the VA in 1984 and began spending winters in Kauai, Hawaii, and later, Green Valley, Ariz. He and Valerie moved permanently to Green Valley in 1994, where they were members of the Desert Hills Golf Club and the Valley Presbyterian Church.

The family suggests donations in his name be made to Carondelet Hospice Services of Tucson, Ariz.

Arrangements are by Adair Dodge Chapel, Tucson.

Please sign the guest book at www.tdn.com/obits. Private remembrances may be forwarded via e-mail through his son, Gregory, at gregnsmith@hotmail.com.