Dr. Daniel Harold Smith, also known as "Mr. Emmaus", served in leadership at Emmaus Bible College for over fifty years on the Bible faculty, including serving as the fourth president. "His students remember his warmth, his wisdom, and his knowledge of and genuine love for the Word of God."

Family

He was born June 6, 1933 in Gravois, St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Harold Sturdy Smith and Helen Julie Vouga Smith, on a dairy farm, and raised with a Christian upbringing, and trusted Christ at the age of eight years old. During his childhood, his father lost his eyesight, and as the eldest son, he functioned as his father's business partner as his eyes and ears.

Dan had minimally three siblings:

Jean Helen Smith (b. 1931) married Paul H. Winter (b. 1928 St. Louis, MO - d. 2007 Ludlow, VT), veteran of the Korean War.
Robert Lott Smith (b. 1938) married Deanna R. Carlton.
Philip John Smith (1939-2007)
David Charles Smith (b. 1942)

Ancestry

Dan's father, Harold Sturdy Smith was born Aug. 2, 1898 in St. Louis, Missouri to Lott Smith (b. 1870 Brighton, Macoupin, IL - d. 1926 St. Louis, MO) and Louise Catherine Sturdy Smith (b. 1878 Carondelet, St. Louis, MO - d. 1935 Crestwood, MO). Lott's parents, Lott's parents (Dan's paternal great-grandparents), John and Mary Wheeler Smith, were both born in England. Louise Catherine Sturdy Smith, Dan's grandmother, was the daughter of Oswald Sturdy (b. 1852 MO), a farmer, & Mary Elizabeth Thompson (b. 1861 MO - d. 1924 St. Louis, MO).

Lott was employed as a house carpenter for the American Brake Company, based in St. Louis, which designed automatic braking systems for freight cars, and power brakes for locomotive engines and tenders, starting in 1880, and they provided their product to over 107 nationally located railroad lines and 10 major locomotive builders primarily on the east coast, employing over 1500 persons by 1904. ABC dissolved in 1956 with the development of the interstate highway system. During World War One, Dan's father, Harold, also was employed for this same firm as a clerk, before becoming a dairyman by 1930.

Helen Julie Vouga Smith, Dan's mother, was born Nov. 17, 1905 in St. Louis, Missouri, and died on Dec. 29, 2007 at Friendship Village in Waterloo, Iowa, which is also where Dan's father died in 1987.

Education

Dan played the trumpet in the all county band and orchestra, and graduated from Kirkwood High School, and then went on to the University of Missouri to study veterinary medicine, which exempted him from being drafted into the Korean War, however he did enlist in the Marine Corps (1950-1953) without his parents' approval, where he played trumpet in the band. It was while he was serving in the military that God impressed on his heart to study the Bible towards ministry. He earned a Th. B. in 1957 in Theology and Greek from Midwest Bible Seminary, then a new seminary based on the model of Dallas Theological Seminary, which was near his home. He then earned a B.A. in Education/Psychology and History/Political Science from nearby Greenville College in 1959. He was working towards his M. Ed. in Counseling from the University of Missouri when he was invited to teach at Emmaus, then later an Ed. D. in Administration and Leadership from Loyola University.

Marriage

During Dan's seminary training, he developed an interest in camp ministry, and became involved with Lake Geneva Youth Camp in Wisconsin, in the summer of 1957 where he served as a counselor and a speaker. This is also where he met Martha Maria Carrera of Chicago, Illinois. They married on Aug. 9, 1958 of Chicago. Within Dan's first year teaching at Emmaus, he and Martha welcomed and lost their first baby, at six weeks, Danny, to bronchial pneumonia. Subsequently, Martha was invited to join the work at Emmaus alongside her husband.

Emmaus work

In 1959, co-principal William MacDonald invited a 25-year-old Dan as a Bible teacher to replace co-founder Robert Edward Harlow who had left to engage in full-time itinerant preaching. He took over the education classes of Harlow, and on the weekends ministered in the 27 Chicago area assemblies.

After serving as a Bible teacher, business manager, student dean, dean of education, director of the correspondence school, executive vice president, and even plowing snow, upon the sudden death of John Smart, Dan was inaugurated as the fourth President from 1976-2000, then Chancellor 2000-2020. It was under Dan's leadership that Emmaus outgrew their Oak Park facilities, and acquired their present location, a former Dominican monastery, for just under two million dollars, in Dubuque, Iowa in 1984, in which they changed their name to Emmaus Bible College, and in 1986 achieved accreditation, which enabled them to offer bachelor degrees. In 1988, they reached a milestone of 200 students. Within his tenure, Emmaus expanded to offer an elementary education program, as well as intercultural studies, youth ministries, and a computer systems management program which lent itself to eventual regional accreditation.

Assembly Involvement

Dan served as an elder many years at Arbor Oaks Bible Chapel, retiring as emeritus.

Death

He died February 19, 2020 in Dubuque, Iowa. His memorial was officiated in the marble chapel at Emmaus by Dr. James Callahan and Dr. Jack Fish.

Also See

Voices for Christ
- 482 ministry messages of Dr. Smith's (1969-2013)
funeral service

Daniel Harold Smith

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