Donald G. Smith

Dr. Donald G. Smith ("Dr. Don"), 97, of Detroit, Michigan passed away Wednesday, June 15, 2016, at Littleton Adventist Hospital, in Littleton, Colorado.

Dr. Don was born on Sunday, April 6, 1919 in Detroit, Michigan.

Dr. Don had a full range of service in Christian ministry. He completed over 14 years of higher education studies, having first studied at Moody Bible Institute (Chicago, Illinois), and then Aurora College in Aurora, Illinois. He became an ordained pastor in 1945. He went on to complete several degree programs at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (Chicago, Illinois), culminating in receiving his Doctor of Theology degree (Th.D.). He also majored in Speech and English at Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois).

Dr. Don served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Amboy, Illinois from 1944-1949 and as Youth Pastor of Judson Baptist Church (Oak Park, Illinois) from 1949-1957. He started teaching part time at Moody Bible Institute ("Moody") in Chicago, Illinois in 1954, then taught speech, homiletics and evangelism on a full-time basis. He started the Communications program at Moody and also served as Dean of Faculty for several years. All told, he taught at Moody for 30 years, until he retired in 1984. After retirement, he continued on as a Vice President at New Port Richey, Florida and also continued to teach and preach, whenever he was given the opportunity. He was a prolific writer and produced commentaries on almost all of the books of the New Testament, which he sent out to people all over the world by email. His last sermon was preached on November 11, 2015 at Airport Boulevard Baptist Church (Aurora, Colorado), at the age of 96.

Proceeding Dr. Don in death are his parents, Willard E. and Anna (Hester) Smith; 2 brothers, Robert (died in infancy) and Willard; 1 sister Dorothy (died in infancy); his first wife, Adeline Dora (Rodgerson) Smith; and his second wife, Virginia (Watts) Smith.

He is survived by one son, Donald Robert Smith, and 2 grandchildren April (Smith) Chamberlain and Adam Smith and 4 great-grandchildren Taylor, Chloe, Max and Emma. He is also survived by 4 step children Susan (Walker) Avis, Stan Watts, Sharon (Watts) Cabeen and David Watts and their children and grandchildren.
Dr. Don's Life Verse is Philippians 1:6: "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ ..." King James Version (KJV)

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