An old friend of Dennis Reves Smith described him as “honest, forthright, above-board in his dealings, a fine gentleman, a family man who has many friends and no enemies, and last, but not least, a Christian who knows and loves his God. In short, Dennis R. Smith is a hillbilly—a philosopher who represents generations of proud, but God-fearing pioneers who earned a good life working a beautiful but rugged countryside.”
All who knew and loved him agree.
Dennis Reves Smith was born on December 11, 1929, on the Old Wheeler Place in northwest Arkansas just as the Great Depression dawned. He was the youngest child of Reves H. Smith and Trudy Morrison Smith; a beloved little brother to his older sisters, Willa Deen and Helen Odessa.
He grew up in the small farming community of Hobbtown. His nickname was “Dickey,” which his Aunt Bessie bestowed on him, because, like her hound dog “Dick,” Dennis had big ears. Throughout his lifetime, his nieces and nephews continued to call him “Uncle Dickey.”
Times were hard in northwest Arkansas during the Depression. At 13, Dennis worked the Kansas wheat harvests with his father. During World War II, the family moved briefly to Berkeley, California, where his father worked in the shipyards. But Dennis was a “hillbilly” at heart even then, and after a few months of high school in Berkeley, returned to Hobbtown. He completed junior high in one year and graduated from Alma High School at the age of 16. At his mother’s insistence, Dennis attended College of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas. Although he was much younger than most entering students – particularly students who were entering college after fighting in World War II – Dennis pursued his dream of playing basketball and made the varsity team his freshman year.
He played throughout the regular season but was one of two players the coach was forced to cut from the team to meet requirements for the National Invitation Tournament that year. Dennis turned his back on college and gave up his dream of becoming a basketball coach. But he never lost his passion for college basketball and spent countless summer nights outside shooting baskets with his two daughters and eventually, his grandchildren.
In 1947, Dennis went to work for Lee’s Shoe store in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He was quickly promoted and at 19, moved to Springfield as the manager of Lee’s Shoe Store on St. Louis Street. There, his life took a dramatic turn. On a blind date, he met Carolyn Jeanne Clark in 1949 and a 74-year love story began. Dennis proposed in the stockroom at Lee’s Shoes.
Their wedding plans were delayed by the Korean Conflict. Dennis served as a yeoman in the Navy on several naval vessels in the early 1950s, including a British frigate and the USS Hewell, which appeared as the USS Reluctant in the film Mr. Roberts. Dennis and Carolyn were finally married on January 17, 1953, while he was on leave. They immediately headed west to San Diego, where he began additional training at the Navy’s Yeoman A School.
Dennis was once again deployed to Korea, and early in 1954, when Carolyn was expecting their first child, he was diagnosed with hepatitis. While recovering in a US Naval hospital in Yokosuka Japan, he received news that their first daughter—Pamela Denise—was born. Dennis met her for the first time that summer at the Springfield Municipal Airport, after being discharged from the Navy. Four years later, Dennis and Carolyn’s second daughter, Angela Diane, was born.
The young family lived in a small white house with wrought iron and Carthage-stone trim on East Monroe in Springfield. But the hillbilly in Dennis craved country living, and in 1962, he and Carolyn bought six acres east of Springfield. They designed and built their dream house, and over the next fifty-nine years, it became the center for family celebrations.
Dennis worked for Central Printing Company, established by Carolyn’s parents, Loren and Wilma Clark. In 1970, Dennis and Carolyn bought the business, and served such clients as Drury University, KYTV, O’Reilly Automotive, and Missouri State University. But Dennis wasn’t content with just one career. He was also a poet and author of articles, columns, and books. He was a hunter and bird dog man, establishing Loro-Den Kennels, where he raised English setters. Most importantly, he became a Church of Christ minister, and was active in this role for more than sixty years.
Dennis preached his first sermon while stationed in San Diego in 1953. Five years later, he began a twenty-six-year tenure as the “part-time” minister to the Bolivar Church of Christ. Among his many responsibilities, Dennis produced a fifteen-minute radio program entitled, “Gospel Studies,” which aired on Bolivar radio station KBLR every Sunday morning. From 1986 until 1996, he served as minister at the Kansas Expressway Church of Christ, where he hosted the The Living Word television program and launched an annual Church of Christ lectureship series. In 1998, Dennis became the Golden Age Minister for the North National (now Water Mill) Church of Christ. He served in that capacity until 2015, when he retired at the age of 86, after suffering a mini-stroke while teaching a Sunday morning Bible study class.
In addition, Dennis conducted gospel meetings or delivered sermons at Churches of Christ throughout the Ozarks and beyond. His privately published autobiography, Meet the Man From Hobbtown, lists engagements at over 30 Churches of Christ, some as far away as Pennsylvania and South Dakota. He officiated at numerous weddings and almost 500 funerals. His sermons, publications, and other papers are now housed with the Special Collections and University Archives at Missouri State University.
The role he most loved, however, was being a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. His immediate family includes his daughters, Pamela Smith Hill, her fiancé Chris Jacobson, and Angela Smith and her partner David Doran; his grandchildren Emily Vandevert and her husband Jamie, Holly Atkinson and her husband Aaron, and Stephen Burk; his great-grandchildren Samuel and Anna; and his sister, Helen Odessa Gentry. He is also survived by his nieces, nephews, and their children.
Dennis mourned the loss of Carolyn, who died on January 28 of this year, shortly after their 70th wedding anniversary. His health declined dramatically in the months that followed. He passed from this life on August 31, 2023. He was preceded in death by his wife; his son-in-law Richard Hill; his sister Willa Deen Welch; his nephew Holly Kim Gentry; and by his parents, Reves and Trudy Smith.
A celebration of Dennis’s life will be held Monday, September 11, at 10:00 a.m. at Greenlawn East Funeral Home, 3540 E. Seminole in Springfield. The visitation will be held on Sunday afternoon, September 10, from 2 until 4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Fair Haven Children’s Home in Stafford, Missouri, or the Morrison Cemetery in Rudy, Arkansas.
Dennis was treasured by his family. As his granddaughter Holly once wrote, “Dennis R. Smith is one of the greatest men I’ve ever known.”
The family expresses special thanks to Dennis Ragsdale for his tremendous support during these final months.