Dorothy (Dot) Lucille (Walters) Smith, beloved wife of the late Revd. Dr. W. Ches Smith III, died at Tift Regional Medical Center on 6th April 2020.
Born on July 2, 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia, to Jewel Hazel (Schell) Walters and Ira Calvin Walters, she was brought up together with her sister, Virginia (Jinx) (Eberhart) and a brother, the late William (Bill) Calvin Walters in Atlanta, where her parents owned Walters Building Supply Company. Dot graduated from Girl’s High School in Atlanta in 1945 (where she was a member of the Quill and Scroll Honour Society), and then went to Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Though she left college before attaining her degree, Dot later returned to Mercer to complete her studies and received her AB degree (cum laude) in early childhood education in 1976.
A committed Christian believer, as a child Dot first attended Sunday School at the Virginia Avenue Baptist Church in Atlanta. Later she joined Druid Hills Baptist Church where she gained a deep love for Scripture and was nurtured in faith. As a young person, she attended a Girl’s Auxiliary Camp and there responded to a call to commit her life to Christian service. Initially, she thought that she would serve on a foreign mission field. However, at the age of fifteen she met Ches Smith, who felt God was leading him to be a Baptist pastor. She then realized that she was being led to share life with him wherever God might lead. They married in Druid Hills Baptist Church in 1948 in a service led by their much-loved and revered pastor and friend, Dr. Louie D. Newton.
After Dot and Ches married, they lived in Atlanta while Ches attended Emory University and served as pastor of Pine Lake Baptist Church (1948-1951). Then, they moved to North Carolina in order for him to attend seminary and he served as pastor of Guess Road Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina (1951-1957). In 1957, they returned to Georgia to Glenwood Hills Baptist Church in Decatur. In 1966, they moved to Tifton where Ches served as pastor of the First Baptist Church until 1995.
Throughout the years of ministry, Dot supported Ches in all aspects of work within the church and in the wider denomination. At the same time, she found ways of sharing her Christian faith with others. Whether it was working in the Vacation Bible School, serving as a counselor at youth camp, going on mission trips, working with the WMU in a local mission project, teaching children in the church kindergarten class or (as she did for many years) regularly visiting newcomers to Tifton to invite them to church. Dot was a person who believed that it was important to reach out to people. Wherever she saw need, Dot wanted to try to help. Of course, she was not afraid to confront what she believed to be wrong or unjust, and at times, she spoke directly to others. Yet, those who sought her counsel knew that she had their best interests at heart.
She was always creative, and often thought of different expressions of Christian outreach. In 1970, when she realized that Abraham Baldwin College was attracting large numbers of international students, she formed an international ministry group in the church. This resulted in shared meals throughout the years with people from all across the world. She also taught conversational English to people who moved to Tifton. In 1973, after helping a family who were traveling through Tifton and faced unexpected hospitalization, Dot suggested that a “hospital ministry” could be formed in partnership with the Regional Medical Center to reach out to others who faced a similar situation. This ministry helped many people over the years.
When she opened “Lou’s Gallery”, an antique and gift shop she enjoyed meeting people of all ages and from different backgrounds. This place, too, became a way for Dot to help guide others and to share her faith. Realizing that she was always ready to listen and to offer a word of encouragement or direction, people often stopped by just to see her. She was a long-standing member of the Camellia Garden Club and enjoyed seeing friends there, as well as at gatherings of the “birthday club”.
After retirement from ministry at First Baptist in 1995, Ches served as an interim pastor in a number of churches in South Georgia: First Baptist Church of Chula, Cordele, Valdosta, Adel, Quitman, Moultrie, Fitzgerald, Baxley and finally at Zion Hope Baptist Church in Tifton. Among these congregations, Dot made many friends as she supported Ches’ ministry. After his death in 2013, Dot was surrounded by the love of friends in First Baptist Church, Tifton, and particularly appreciated the support of her Sunday School class.
For the last six years, Dot has lived at Cypress Pond Senior Care Assisted Living Community where she met many new friends among the residents and staff. She enjoyed art lessons and outings as part of the community, as well as just sitting and sharing friendship time with others. One friend described her as an “unofficial chaplain” at Cypress Pond because she was always ready to listen and offer advice to others. Most of all, she was glad for the regular devotions held in the community. She loved to join in worship with others and especially liked singing the old hymns. As one daughter has so aptly put it: she always “sang hymns with abandonment”. She did, indeed, and this was for her, another way of sharing with others her deep faith in Jesus Christ.
Dot and Ches were married for 64 years and they had five children, fifteen grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren. Home and family life were important to them both. They enjoyed being outdoors and took great pleasure in working in the garden. Every year the family went camping together and, of course, for Dot, it was always important to pack poles and nets for fishing and crabbing at the seaside. Dot especially loved to fish and was so pleased when, in 1976, she and Ches moved to Forest Lakes. It meant that she could fish at anytime and she did! In fact, if the fish were jumping, she was known at times to go straight to the dock without coming in to the house! They enjoyed living by the lake and delighted in offering hospitality to others.
Dot was a wonderful cook and a beautiful baker. As the children were growing up, the smell of home-baked items often filled the house when they returned home from school. It was her special way of showing her love and care. She will be sorely missed by family and friends, but it is with great thanksgiving to God that we remember her life.
Children: The late William Ches “Skip” Smith, IV and his wife Judy, of Augusta, Dr. Carol Goff and her husband, Rodney of Macon, Kathy Martin and her husband Milton, of Augusta, Rev. Dr. Karen Smith and her husband, Rev. Paul Harris, of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England, and Lisa Daughtrey of Tifton.
Grandchildren: W. Ches Smith V and his wife, Kim, Elizabeth Hoover and her husband, Ed, Caroline and Butler Kimbrough, Dottie Eldridge and her husband, Scott, Patrick Goff and his wife, Andrea, Mitchell Goff and his wife, Kristin, Rev. Dr. Tripp Martin III and his wife, Katharine, Dr. T. J. Martin and his wife, Dr. Julie Martin, Schell Davis and her husband, Cameron, Caleb and Taylor Harris, Sarah Kathryn Garland and her husband, Brooks, Mary Parker Daughtrey and her fiance’, Justin Abercrombie, Tillman Daughtrey and his wife, Jenna.
Great-grandchildren: W. Ches Smith VI and Lucy Smith, Peyton Hoover, Mac and Emma Eldridge, Ella and Wiley Goff, Tyler Grace Goff, J. D. And Hunter Martin, Breyl, Judah and Ophelia Martin, Beckett and Everly Davis, Brooklyn and Greer Garland, Malone Abercrombie.
Due to the current restrictions imposed by the corona virus pandemic, a graveside service for family members only will be held on Thursday, 9th April. The Rev. Dr. Wayne Roe, pastor of First Baptist Church will officiate. The family would be grateful for your thoughts and prayers at this time. A service of thanksgiving for Dot Smith’s life will be arranged at a later date when the pandemic restrictions have been lifted. The family requests that if there are those who wish to give memorial gifts, they should be given to the Ches Smith Scholarship Fund at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, 3001 Mercer University Drive, Atlanta, GA 30341.