Dr. Walter Douglas Smith

Dr. Walter Douglas Smith (age 99), a resident of Florence, died on March 3, 2018 in Columbia, SC. Born in Harriman, Tennessee on Nov. 17, 1918 to Walter B. Smith and Jeanetta Mae Scarbrough Smith. He graduated from Harriman High School, and thereafter from Lincoln Memorial University before serving for three years in the US Navy during WWII. He was the skipper in a torpedo boat squadron (PT Boats) in waters surrounding Papua, New Guinea and the Philippine Islands. It was while on Navy leave in Sydney, Australia in 1944 that he met his future wife, Rhondda Miller. They were married after the war in 1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Dr. Smith completed his work on a Ph.D in psychology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Smith’s college teaching and administrative appointments included stints at Florida State University, Eastern Michigan University, Western Washington University, Winthrop College, and Salisbury State University, all before arriving in Florence in 1970 to serve as the founding president of Francis Marion College, a role in which he served for thirteen years. After his retirement in 1983, Dr. Smith was asked by the newly appointed Board of Trustees of South Carolina’s Governors School for Science and Mathematics, again serving in a founding role by undertaking the task of starting that institution. In its mission of educating many of the state’s most able eleventh and twelfth graders, the Governors School has become one of the most successful institutions in the country and an accomplishment of which Dr. Smith was most proud. In January of 2000, Dr. Smith was predeceased by his wife of fifty-three years, and he is now survived by his two sons, Dr. Ian D. Smith (Jeanie) and Walter H. Smith (Mary Ann) of Columbia, SC, four grandchildren Loren Smith Carlson (Cory), Ian Brewster Smith (Shaina), Miller Smith and Hayden Smith, and most recently a great-grandson, Rhys J. Britton-Smith. Also surviving him is one sister, Mrs. Glenna Feller (John) of Signal Mountain, TN, and one sister in law, Mrs. Donna Miller of Everett, WA, and four nieces and eleven nephews from that side of the family. During his years in Florence, Dr. Smith was affiliated with Florence Rotary Club, the Pee Dee area Boy Scouts, the Chamber of Commerce, and the United Way. His services to South Carolina included on the Presbyterian College, Lander University and York County Technical College Boards of Trustees. A Memorial Service will be conducted at First Presbyterian Church of Florence at 2:00 pm Monday, March 12, 2018.Following the service, the family will greet friends at the church. Please sign the tribute wall for the family at www.stoudenmiredowling.com.