Submitted by: Cathy Millburn

 

 

 

WALTER SCOTT SMITH, SR., D.O.

 

 

 

Walter Scott Smith (later "Sr."), b May 10, 1882 in Cleveland, Ohio, d July 17, 1937 in Marlin, Falls County, Texas ‑ was a son of Frank William and Jessie (Thompson) Smith. Frank and Jessie moved to Sterling, Wyoming with their family, and Walter Scott finished high school there.

Walter Scott Smith graduated from Kirksville Osteopathic College in Kirksville, Missouri as an Osteopathic Physician in 1905, and began his practice in 1906 in Stamford, Texas. In 1907, he moved to Meridian, Texas, where, on June 22, 1909, Dr. Walter Scott married Martha Virginia McCrary, a native of Louisiana who had moved to La Vernia, Texas.

In 1911, Dr. Walter and Martha Virginia Smith' moved to Marlin, Falls County, Texas, where their two children were born:

Walter Scott Smith, Jr., b August 11, 1911, d April 24, 1969 in Marlin, Falls County, Texas and buried in Calvary Cemetery ‑ married Mary Elizabeth Wilson, and had issue.

Mary Catherine Smith, b July 5, 1915 ‑ attended school in Queens, North Carolina and The University of Texas at Austin. She taught school thirty‑two years, until her retirement in 1973 from the Marlin Independent School District. Mary Catherine is very active in the First Presbyterian Church in Marlin, is a Volunteer in the Chaplin's Office at Torbett‑Hutchings‑Smith Memorial Hospital in Marlin, and has been a member of the "Not So Great Book Club" for many years. Mary Catherine has not married, and continues to reside in Marlin in the family home.

Although Dr. Walter Scott Smith, Sr. was invited to join the staff of both Torbett's Hospital and the Buie Clinic when he settled in Marlin, he chose private practice as a general practitioner. He was prominent in Osteopathic circles in Texas, and served as president of  Texas Osteopathic Association. Dr. Smith was of the "house call" vintage, and even made such calls out of town. When he had calls to Reagan, during a time Big Creek was flooded, he would drive his car to the train tressle, walk across, and be met on the other side by a man on horseback to take him to his patient.

Always civic minded, Dr. Walter was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis Club; he was a Shriner and a Scottish Rite 32nd Degree Mason. He was one of the organizers and the first president of the Marlin Country Club. He was a director of the Citizens National Bank which did not survive the Depression. Although born into a Methodist family, his wife made a good Presbyterian of him, and he was made an Elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Marlin. His jovial disposition and contagious laugh are still remembered.

 

 

 

 

 

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 422 column 2 and page 423 column 1.  
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.