Loyd Lewis Smith, RIP

Brother Loyd Smith, gospel preacher, passed away a few minutes before midnight, Sunday, September 1, 1996. He turned 90 on June 23 and was a resident of Hilltop Haven in Gunter, Texas. He was proceeded in death by his wife Beuna.

Brother Smith was born in 1906 in Rocky, Okla. His parents, Lewis E. and Flora Parson Smith, had recently moved there from Wise County, Texas. Brother Smith attended grade school in Rocky, and graduated from high school in nearby Sentinel in 1925. His father then moved the family to Cordell, Okla., so that Loyd and his three sisters could attend Oklahoma Christian College. Loyd did his first two years of college work there, and during that time preached his first sermon, at Granite, Okla., in December, 1926. He then moved to Morrilton, Ark., and attended Harding College for two years. There he fell in love with the school nurse, Beuna Peebles, and they were married February 24, 1930.

In the fall of 1933 he began working full time with the congregation in Stratford, Oklahoma. Over the years he worked with a number of congregations in Oklahoma and with three congregations in California. He preached twelve years in Lawton, Okla., and he served on the founding board of Central Christian College, Bartlesville, Okla., until the college moved to Oklahoma City.

He preached for the Sunset church in Dallas from 1960 until 1967. He taught at Harding College, the Preston Road School of Preaching, and the Kakinada School of Preaching in India. In his book, Gospel Preachers of Yesteryear, he states that he served in the capacity of a "paid elder" for a time.

When the Plano East Church of Christ conducted its first worship service, August 3, 1980, brother Smith preached the first sermon for the congregation. That morning he preached on "The One Church of the Bible" and on "The First Christians" that evening. He became the preacher for the congregation on November 23, 1980, and did more­than full­time work for less­than­part­time pay for a little over seven years, until February 28, 1988. Our congregation will be forever indebted to brother and sister Smith for their years of diligent and devoted service. Had it not been for their labors we could well wonder if there would even be a Plano East Church Christ.

We will remember you, brother Smith, for your life of love and labor for the Lord, for your years of service to our congregation, for your great devotion to sister Smith, and for your admiration of faithful gospel preachers. We are glad that you have found a "refuge" (Prov. 14:32) and that you have rejoined your beloved Beuna. May you rest in peace.