Raymond A. Smith
(19?? - 2005)

Husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and a retired teacher to hundreds. He was born in Indiana and moved south of Reily, Ohio where he went to the first three grades at Okeana. They then moved to a farm north of Oxford, Ohio where he went to the McGuffey school. There he was raised on a farm with two brothers and a sister. He received his degree in Education from Miami University and later his Masters Degree in Education also from Miami University. He worked various jobs to pay for his education with the biggest secret being that he was a pro wrestler, The Masked Marvel. In 1935, he married Loretta Kerman. He then taught at Mason High School in Mason, Ohio for two years. In 1937, he moved to Dayton and taught as a roving teacher at four elementary schools. Ray finally landed his dream job at Kiser High School in 1938.

There he taught until 1960, when he moved closer to his home to teach at the new Meadowdale High School. While here he was on the committee to acquire the National and State Certifications for high schools. He also wrote an updated text and taught classes of commercial arithmetic that were very successful with his students scoring high on the national tests. In 1970, he retired. During his years of teaching high school he taught Math, Machine Shop, Electronics, and his first love, Industrial Arts. He developed several programs for Dayton schools and helped a lot of young men find jobs in businesses throughout the Dayton area. During his summers off he worked at Master Electric four years and then worked for E.P. Larsh directly for 32 years. Larsh built Raymond an air-conditioned Lab in which he worked on a lot of patents. He worked with Wright Patterson and the Navy to develop a minesweeper, which the Navy attached to PT boats. During World War II, he taught women, Rosie Rivetor’s, how to run equipment in the factory since all the young men were off at war. He also designed and built a cement smoother to smooth large fresh poured floors.

Since retiring, one of his greatest joys was going to class reunions. He attended every one he could, sometimes two on one day. At Kiser he was class advisor to many classes. He kept in contact with many of his students and was always dedicated to helping them. Some even became teachers and he had the joy of teaching with a few. Ray was very proud to be awarded the status of Teacher Emeritus. He was always proud of his students and received great joy in hearing from them and what they had done with their lives.

He was married 54 years when his wife died in 1989, after a long illness in which he was the loving caretaker. Raymond was a member of Grace United Methodist Church since moving to Dayton in 1937. He served on numerous committees and served the church in many ways. His favorite was visiting with the shut-ins. He served on the Official Board and enjoyed the prayer breakfasts on Saturday mornings.

Family was always first in his eyes and he was very proud of his immediate family as well as his extended family. He always considered the Poeppelmeier/Limbert extended family part of his family since all holidays and special occasions were celebrated with his daughter Phyllis and her husband Dave’s family.

He was a member of the National Education Association, National Urban Education Association, Ohio Education Association, and Ohio Urban Education Association, Dayton Classroom Teachers Association serving two terms as President and the Ohio Industrial Arts Association receiving honorary life membership. He also received honorary membership at Miami University in Kappa Phi Kappa, a National Education Fraternity and Epsilon Pi Tau, a National Industrial Arts Fraternity. He was very proud of being awarded the status of Teacher Emeritus.

His wife of 54 years, Loretta Ludwina (Billie), preceded Ray in death in 1989. Also preceding are his daughter, Lois Jolyne and one brother, Earl, who died at age 13. He is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Marilyn & Donald Schneider and Phyllis & David Poeppelmeier; brother, Harold Smith; sister, Norma Shellhouse; four grandsons, Mark and Mike (& wife, Darcy) Neyman, Rusty (& wife, Georgette) and Chad (& wife, Becki Poeppelmeier; three great grandsons, Austin, Christian, and Andrew Neyman; and by many nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews and cousins.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, April 23, at Grace United Methodist Church, 1001 Harvard Blvd. at Salem Ave., Dayton, OH 45406. Pastor Melody Williams will officiate. Interment will follow at Oxford Cemetery in Oxford, Ohio. The family will be receiving friends from 5 - 8:00 p.m., Friday, at Baker/Hazel & Snider Funeral Home & Crematory, 5555 Philadelphia Dr. at N. Main St., Dayton, Ohio.

In lieu of flowers the family would prefer that contributions be made in memory of Ray to the Grace United Methodist Church Memorial Fund. Grace United Methodist Church

Online memories and condolences may be left for the family at: www.bakerhazelsnider.com.

Published in the Dayton Daily News on 4/20/2005.