The Rev. Dr. W. Ches Smith, III, beloved pastor emeritus of First Baptist church in Tifton, died Saturday, March 2, 2013, at Tift Regional Medical Center. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, 2013, in the Sanctuary of Tifton's First Baptist Church. Ches Smith V, Tripp Martin, T.J. Martin, Patrick Goff, Mitchell Goff, Scott Eldridge, Brooks Garland and Tillman Daughtrey will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Tifton Rotary Club and members of the Frank Raley Coed Sunday School Class of Tifton’s First Baptist Church. The family will receive friends on Monday, March 4, 2013, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary of Tifton's First Baptist Church.
At an early age, Dr. Smith realized the value of a good education, and he achieved this for himself. He was graduated from the renowned Boys’ High School of Atlanta and then went on to Mercer University in Macon, where he remained for a short while before joining the United States Coast Guard; his unit was later fused into the United States Army where he remained for four years of creditable service to our nation. After leaving the armed forces, he returned to college and received his AB Degree in 1957 from Emory University, and then he went on to Southeastern Baptist Seminary from which he earned three degrees, his B.D., his Th.M and his D.Min. degree. In 1973, Mercer recognized Dr. Smith’s wisdom, foresight, and vision for the University and the Baptist denomination by conferring upon him the honorary D.D. degree.
Because of his love of learning, Dr. Smith wanted others to have an opportunity to further their educations. Specifically, for twenty-five years, on Friday evenings he taught ministers at the Norman Bible Institute. In addition, he served as a Trustee of Tift College, as a Trustee of Mercer University, and he had the distinction of making the motion that a theology school be created. This later became known as the McAfee School of Theology, Atlanta, GA, an institution that has now graduated over 500 students.
Dr. Smith served several different pastorates beginning with the Pine Lake Baptist Church in the Atlanta area. From there he went to Guess Road Baptist Church, Durham, North Carolina. He then moved to Decatur, Georgia, serving the Glenwood Hills Baptist Church. In 1966 he became pastor of First Baptist Church, Tifton, Georgia, where he served as active pastor for twenty-nine years. At his retirement in 1995, Dr. Smith was named Pastor Emeritus of the First Baptist Church.
For seventeen plus years, Dr. Smith served as interim pastor of various Baptist churches: First Baptist Church of Chula, Cordele, Valdosta, Adel, Quitman, Moultrie, Fitzgerald, and Baxley. He concluded his interims with the Zion Hope Baptist Church which he was pastoring when he died. He maintained and continued relationships with all these congregations. Yet during these interims, he retained his deep involvement with and support of the Tifton First Baptist Church, including active membership in the Frank Raley Coed Sunday School class.
Dr. Smith credited Dr. Louie D. Newton, who was his pastor at Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta, for teaching him about our Baptist heritage and the importance of supporting the principles for which our forefathers fought. Ches Smith took a leadership role as Moderator of the Atlanta Association, the Mell Association; was the President of Georgia Baptist Convention and served on many committees in the Convention; chaired the Board of Directors of THE CHRISTIAN INDEX and the Executive Committee of Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Smith was a part of the organization of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, formed for the purpose of education, fellowship, and global missions; he also served on the First National Council and as Georgia’s first Moderator of the Baptist Fellowship.
Dr. Smith and his beloved wife, Dot, made Tifton their home and contributed in many areas for the betterment and improvement of the community. He served as President of the Tifton Rotary Club and is a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International. Because of his service and leadership to the Tifton community, The Tifton Chamber of Commerce elected to hang his portrait on the Tifton Wall of Fame.
Dr. W. Ches Smith, III, will live on in the lives of the many people whom he has touched. He and Dot started their home in 1948 and worked side by side in rearing a family and in ministering to their churches. A dear friend of his, Dr. Truett Gannon, said, “Christ has walked with him; Ches, you have indeed been a good and faithful servant of our Lord.”
Dr. Smith is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy Walters Smith; five children, William Ches “Skip” Smith, IV and wife Judy of Augusta, Dr. Carol Goff and husband Rodney of Macon, Dr. Karen Smith and Paul Harris of Wales, Lisa Daughtrey of Tifton and Kathy and Milton Martin of Augusta; 13 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; one brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Kay Smith of Highland, North Carolina; and two sisters-in-law, Ann Smith of Bremen and Jinx Eberhart of Atlanta.
Flowers will be accepted or memorial gifts may be made to the Ches Smith Scholarship Fund at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, 3001 Mercer University Drive, Atlanta, GA 30341.