Dr. David Leslie Smiley

So sorry that my dear friend and teacher has gone...May the Good Lord bless you...

To the Smiley family - I can only imagine your grief at the loss of such a warm and vital man. Dr. Smiley was THE highlight of my four years at Wake Forest. He was my teacher, my mentor, my advisor and my friend. He taught me so many things about life and history and increased the great joy I had while I was a student at Wake by his very presence. I feel extremely lucky to have known such a great and wonderful man as he. Please know that many of us feel that the world is a little smaller and...

David Smiley was a warm, generous, witty and brilliant professor who gave many of us the gift of a love of history. His lectures were so funny it was often difficult to take notes. His performance as FDR (complete with wheelchair) and the “Marlon Brando”-type hunkered over the radar screen on Pearl Harbor day are emblazoned in my memory. So also is his caution that war has a way of blotting out moral sensibilities and becoming the greater evil. I will never think of “Charley’s Aunt” without...

My condolences to the Smiley family. Dr. Smiley epitomized the parade of gentle souls who graced the classrooms of our Wake Forest during the second half of the 20th century. The entire Wake Forest family shares in your loss. Jim Apple, '75

Thank you.
Thank you dear Smiley for teaching me about critical thinking and encouraging me to question the status quo. Thank you for giving me a perspective of history that was different from what I had been taught before. Thank you for Friday night spaghetti suppers in your little home that was a former army barracks off the road to Henderson and for all the delightful visits afterward through the years. Thank you for calling me on it when I was wrong.

Thank you also...

While a student at Wake Forest from 1953-57, I attended Dr. Smiley's Sunday School class. Although I never had him for a history class, I grew to respect his wit and wisdom. He is a legend within himself and has touched many lives to inspire us to reach beyond what we thought we could be. May God bless you in the knowledge of the fact that your loved one was a very, very special man. Sincerely, Miriam Allred Todd, Class of '57, Wake Forest University

Kay,
Please accept my deepest sympathy for the loss of your father. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers. I met your father several times while we were room mates in college at WFU and he was also such a nice person. May God's angels watch over you and comfort you and give you strength.

Dr. Smiley was a kind, learned man and an excellent teacher. He always told me that teaching was fun, not work, and I believed him. He made learning fun. I am thankful for his life.

I was so sorry to hear of Dr. Smiley's passing. I took several of his classes when I attended WFU.
He was always so vivacious and engaged in class. A true southern gentleman. He will be missed. I am sorry distance prevents me from giving my condolences in person. I hope than soon your happy memories of him will lift your spirits.