Jesse D. Smith Sr, was born April 28, 1930, in Lott, Texas to the proud parents of Rev. Jesse and Ethel Smith. He died September 29, 2018 and is peacefully at rest awaiting the great resurrection. Now, Jesse could never be called a stranger. The very nature of his character was to show himself friendly. If you got to know him, he was your friend for life, an all-around creative person, with several lines of work in his lifetime. He was a carpenter, carpet layer and floor treatment specialist, diesel mechanic to name a few. His hobbies were tinkering with things, playing games; cards, dominos, checkers etc. Whatever he put his mind to do became the reality of his success. Jesse loved singing and would break out in song on a whim. At any time, you could hear him singing, “There’s a Bright Side Somewhere”, or “By and By When the Morning Comes” with the words “All the saints of God are gathering home. We will tell the story how we've overcome. We will understand it better by and by. We will tell the story of how we’ve overcome. And we’ll understand it better by and by.”
Jesse was blessed to be a part of a blended family. From the union of Ethel and Rev. Jesse Smith were four children, Jesse D. Sr., the oldest, Margaret, Charles, and Gloreen. To this union, Ethel brought Leona, Lee and Cordelia. There was never a dull moment around the Smith household.
His early education was in the Dallas independent school district. He graduated from Booker T Washington high school, attended Wiley College for two years and later went to the United States Army. He was a long-time member of True Believers Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, but later, after hearing the 3 Angels Message of Revelation 14, decided to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church at a Men’s Conference in Athens, Texas. He became a member of New Beginning Seventh-Day Adventist church in Athens, Texas and served there for the remainder of his life.
He was married to Barbara Smith in 1955 and from that union had 3 children Gina, Lisa and Jesse Jr. He later married Ruby Young and became step-father to her son Douglas Jordan. He gained a son-in-law from the marriage of his daughter Lisa who affectionately calls him papa. In all, there were seven siblings, eight grandchildren, sixteen great, great, grandchildren, and three great, great, great grandchildren.
Mr. Jesse became an advocate of the Adventist health message. After attending a seminar, he changed his lifestyle and got rid of the disease he had for many years, diabetes. Even though he had health challenges, brain surgery of sort, he remained free of diabetes, a true example of life transformation and change. We will ever hold him close to our heart in fond memories.
