By Jenn Lampila, The Crete News
If a saying can lay out someone's personality and life's work, then Dr. David Smith's T-Shirt says it all: "Experiment with a Chemist".
Except for his love of golf, travel, and three cute grandkids who lived just a few blocks away. Maybe the t-shirt does not explain it all, but it was certainly what made him a respected, and apparently a feared and favorite Doane College professor for 36 years, according to family , friends, colleagues and former students.
Whether it was students filing into an 8 a.m. chemistry lab in the Goodall Math and Science building, or the Lied Math and Science building, they probably were not sure if a joke was going to be on the test. But it was certain the chemistry professor standing before them knew what he was talking about and he cared that they did too.
His educational credits included a bachelor of science degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1963, and a completed Doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Missouri. He also spent sabbaticals in Virginia and New York as well as one in Vienna, Austria for post-doctoral study at the University of Vienna Institute for Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 2000.
Smith and his wife Peggy wanted a small college town to live in and Doane College and Crete filled all their criteria. A major selling point for David was the golf course nearby, which anyone who knew David knew where to find him on league nights.
Smith met Peggy Brooks in Boston while serving in the Navy. She was a graduate student and they were married in Maine in 1966. They lived in Missouri before settling in Crete. Peggy Brooks Smith also worked at Doane as head of the Perking Library before retiring last year.
The couple raised two sons in Crete. Peter, who now lives in Lincoln, and Michael, who is married to Crete attorney Shaylene Smith. Mike and Shay Smith are now raising three children in Crete not far from his parent's home.
Since beginning his teaching tenure at Doane in 1970, Smith saw many changes in campus life, buildings and how he taught. In an article about his retirement in the Doane Magazine from 2006, he described feeling more "approachable" when he stopped wearing a tie to work. He also moved away from lecturing to his students as a traditional way of teaching.
Like many other retired Doane professors, Smith could not completely power down from researching topics of interest or stay off campus. There were too many memories, too many good friends and colleagues and a still relatively new science building with ample space for a chemistry professor with no classes to teach or papers to grade and a lot of spare time.
He still had plans for his retirement. Plans that included research papers and presentations, travels with his family and more than the average amount of golf. He is one of many fondly remembered Doane professors and Crete community members.
Members of the faculty who never really leave because they truly loved their jobs and like Smith, who could not imagine life without a little bit a chemistry.
A Celebration of Life Service was held at 10:30 a.m. on July 17 in the Whitcomb Lee Conservatory at Doane College. A lunch followed at the United Church of Christ in Crete. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to the Crete Boy Scouts; Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church; or Doane College designated for Science Scholarships.