John Richard Smith MD

John Richard Smith, M.D., passed away on January 6, 2012, after a brief illness. Dr. Smith was born in Sycamore, Kansas on August 15, 1932, and was raised primarily in Oklahoma. He graduated from Drumright High School in 1950, the University of Oklahoma in 1953, and the OU Medical School in 1957. After an internship in New York City, he served almost four years as a physician in the United States Air Force, stationed first in Pakistan and then in Germany during the height of the Cold War. Before his departure to Pakistan he met the love of his life, Karol King. They married after a brief courtship, and she then moved to Germany with him for the first year of their marriage. After being honorably discharged as a captain in the Air Force, Dr. Smith moved back to the states where he completed his residency in psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center. He then was awarded a two year post-residency fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

In 1967, he returned to Oklahoma City with his wife and their three children, Sean, Sheryl and Shannon, to begin a lifetime of practicing psychiatry in Oklahoma. He was in private practice for over thirty years before closing his office in 2004. He then went to work with the United States Army at Fort Bragg in North Carolina to help counsel soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He was there for almost a year before returning to Oklahoma to counsel soldiers at Fort Sill in Lawton, spending the weekends with his family. He worked at Ft. Sill for over six years, until his recent retirement in late November 2011. On December 29, 2011, Richard and Karol celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary. Dr. Smith dedicated his life to helping others and to loving his family. He is survived by his two sisters Norma Blanton of Council Grove, Kansas and Dorothy Basnett of Fairfield, IL; his wife Karol Smith and their three children, Sean R. Smith and his wife Mary Lillian Walker of Atlanta, GA, Sheryl Smith Taber, and Shannon Smith of Oklahoma City; his three grandchildren Andrea Taber, Morgan Taber, and Sean Smith Jr.; numerous nieces and nephews; and many other family and friends who will miss him dearly.

Services with be held at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, OK. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to The American Cancer Society or the Sanctuary Choir at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.

Arrangements under the direction of Hahn-Cook/Street & Draper Funeral Directors, Oklahoma City, OK.