Rev. Bill Smith

The Rev. Bill H. Smith, 78, of Paris, brother of Evelyn Milner of South Fulton, died Feb. 17, 2014, at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital.
Services will be 1 p.m. Friday at Paris First Baptist Church, with Dr. Trent Bullock and Larry Nichols officiating. Burial will follow in Memorial Cemetery in Paris.
The family will receive friends from 4-7 p.m. Thursday at Ridgeway Funeral Home in Paris and from 11 a.m. until the hour of services Friday at the church.
The family requests that memorials be made to First Baptist Church men’s ministry, 313 North Poplar St., Paris, TN 38242; Henry County Relay for Life, P.O. Box 1505, Paris, TN 38242; or Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 26 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10004 or jdrf.org.
He was born Feb. 27, 1935, in the Clayton community, son of the late Clifford Dewitt and Iva Lora (Morris) Smith. He married the former Betty Joe Glidewell Oct. 30, 1954. She survives. He had been a guide on Reelfoot Lake and a gas station attendant in his younger years. A member of Paris First Baptist Church, he was a Baptist minister for more than 60 years and was the retired director of missions for the Western District Baptist Association, a position he held from 1976-2000. He had pastored churches in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Illinois and Michigan. He enjoyed traveling, camping and working as a campground chaplain in Pigeon Forge and Ocala, Fla. He also worked with Campers on Mission and with the Tennessee Baptist Convention Disaster Relief.
He is also survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Shauna and Jeff Adams of Paris; his son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Laurie Smith of Jackson; three grandchildren and their spouses, Kole and Jennifer Smith of Marietta, Ga., and Matt and Candice Adams and Chris Adams, all of Paris; five great-grandchildren, Matthew Jones, Kala Jones, Nely Bevill, Dean Adams and Cash Adams; his brother-in-law, Bill Milner of South Fulton; several nieces and nephews; and special friends, Robert and Nikki Beard.
He was also preceded in death by three sisters, Elsie Frazier, Sue Kelly and Eula May Pinion; and two brothers, Clint D.  Smith and Vernon Smith.