Richard Myrl Smith MD

Dr. Smith was born in Grenada, Mississippi on the 26th of May 1931. He graduated from Ole Miss with a degree in Chemistry. He served in the United States Navy as a pilot during the Korean War. He then completed medical school at the University of Mississippi and did his residency in Galveston, Texas, at the University of Texas John Sealy Hospital. He and his family settled in Houston where he practiced as an anesthesiologist at St. Luke’s Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital for more than three decades. Dr. Smith was an active participant in the Greater Houston Safari Club, the C Club and the Pachyderm Club. He was a voracious reader and constantly pursued learning. His greatest passions were history and hunting.

Dr. Smith was preceded in death by his father, the late Richard Myrl Smith, Sr.; his mother, the late Elise Rumph Smith; his sister, the late Elise Smith Daniels; and his grandson, the late Luke Bennet Rainer. He is survived by his daughters, Garland Smith Linkenhoger of McAllen, TX, Kendall Smith Rainer of Houston, and Courtney Smith Deihl of Scottsdale, Arizona and their spouses; his brother, James Smith of Charleston, South Carolina; four grandchildren, Ashleigh Linkenhoger Coombs, Brittany Harris Linkenhoger, John Cole Rainer and Samuel Bennet Rainer; and great grandchildren. He is also survived by the mother of his daughters, Ann May Smith.

Friends are cordially invited to gather with the family and share remembrances of Dr. Smith from half-past five o’clock in the afternoon until half-past seven o’clock in the evening on Thursday, the 5th of August, in the Library of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

All are invited to gather with the family during a graveside service to be conducted at eleven o’clock in the morning on Friday, the 6th of August, at Glenwood Cemetery, 2525 Washington Avenue in Houston, where Rev. Ben Young, Executive Associate Pastor of Second Baptist Church, is to officiate.

In lieu of customary remembrances, kindly consider a memorial contribution to The Salvation Army, 1500 Austin Street, Houston, TX, 77002.