Submitted by: Cathy Millburn
HOWARD OWEN SMITH, M.D.
Howard Owen Smith, M.D. b June 14, 1898 in Hamilton,
Texas, d May 17, 1977 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin, Falls County,
Texas ‑ was a son of Dr. Howard O. and Clara Elizabeth (Eidson) Smith. He
received his preliminary education in Hamilton, Baylor University in Waco, and
The University of Texas, Austin; and subsequently received his medical degree
May 31, 1922 from The University of Texas
Medical Branch, Galveston, with internship at City Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio,
and postgraduate work in Chicago and at New York Polyclinic in 1925 ‑ serving as
honorary instructor in surgery at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1934
and 1938.
During World War II, Dr. Smith served with the United
States Naval Reserve Medical Corps as surgeon aboard hospital ships, "Relief"
and "Solace" in the Pacific Theater of War, and was awarded five battle stars
and a personal commendation medal and ribbon from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. He
was discharged with the rank of Commander.
In 1922, Dr. Smith joined his cousin, Dr. J. Walter
Torbett, Sr., as Chief of Surgery on the staff of the Torbett Sanitorium ‑
holding that position until 1975; and in 1936, he, Dr. E. P. Hutchings, Jr., and
Dr. Torbett formed a private corporation. In 1963, the successor to the Torbett
Hospital and Clinic was dedicated being named Torbett‑Hutchings‑Smith Memorial
Hospital.
In 1926, Howard Owen Smith, M.D. was married first to
Mary Ashley Lee, of Galveston, who died in 1934. They had one son, Howard Lee
Smith, M.D., who is a surgeon in Marlin, who married Pat Thomas, and has issue.
In 1938, Dr. Smith was married second to Ann Louise (Bauer) Welch, b September
10, 1906, d December 10, 1969 and buried in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin, who had
a son, Jack Welch, b April 11, 1928 in Limestone County, Texas, by her first
husband, Jack Dixon Welch. Dr. and Mrs. Smith reared their two sons in Marlin;
and Jack Welch is an attorney in Marlin, and is a Registered Lobbyist in Austin.
Dr. Howard Owen Smith served Marlin and Falls County
for more than fifty years, and received deserved recognition from his peers and
the general public for his unstinting services. On June 9, 1965 at the
commencement exercises of The University of Texas Medical Branch, he was awarded
the Ashbel Smith
Distinguished Alumni Award; and on May 4, 1973, he was honored as a physician
who had served humanity for fifty years, and was voted the Texas Medical
Association's highest honor ‑ the Distinguished Service Award. In October 1972,
he was honored by Marlinites with an "Appreciation Day Dinner."
Dr. Smith was always active in civic groups on local,
regional, and state levels. He served as chairman of the Medical Staff and Board
of Trustees of the Torbett‑Hutchings‑Smith Memorial Hospital and Clinic,
beginning in 1966; and was a director of Marlin National Bank. He was a director
of the Falconer Civic Center in Marlin‑being named in May 1976 as Director
Emeritus. For 27 years, he served on the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners,
and was a Past President of that group; and served as president of the Texas
Medical Association, Twelfth District Medical Society, Falls County Medical
Society, and Texas Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He was a
Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a Diplomate of the American
Board of Surgery. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi social fraternity, and Alpha
Mu Pi Omega Alpha honorary medical fraternity.
In Marlin, Dr. Smith was a President of the Marlin
Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, a Past Director of the Marlin Chamber of Commerce, and
of the Heart of Texas Boy Scout Council, past District 587 Governor of Rotary
International; former senior warden and lay reader in the St. John's Episcopal
Church of Marlin, a Mason, and a member of the Shrine, Eastern Star, and Knights
of Pythias.
Dr. Howard Owen Smith remained an active medical
consultant for Torbett‑Hutchings‑Smith Memorial Hospital, until his death.
Copyright Permission granted
to Theresa Carhart for printing the biographies of these Falls County Families
to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical
Commission, page 418 column 2 and page 419 column 1 and 2.
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.
