David Arnold Smith, 92, of Kennesaw, Georgia, took his final morning walk with Jesus on May 28, 2026. For the last five years, he walked daily through a neighborhood he had long known and loved, surrounded by family and friends. A musing written for his 90th Birthday Celebration and Parade read:
"It takes a good man to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. It takes a great man to walk five miles a day into everyone's hearts."
Born February 11, 1934, in Canton, Mississippi, to Mattie Emma Sutherland Smith and Walter Siebert Smith, David's family moved frequently through Mississippi and Arkansas as his father's work required. He graduated from Magnet Cove High School in Arkansas, where he met his future wife, Wensil Allene Lowery. Shortly after their marriage, he was deployed to Taiwan with the U.S. Army during the Korean War—a period of service he carried with pride for the rest of his life.
After returning, David and Wensil settled in Jackson, Mississippi, where they raised their children: daughter Debbie (born 1957) and son Philip (born 1962). He earned a degree from Millsaps College and spent 35 years with the United States Postal Service. Keeping a promise made to his mother, he also served as a lay pastor for the United Methodist Church in rural Mississippi congregations while continuing his postal work. He later studied ministry at Emory University in Atlanta and, after retiring from the Postal Service, served as a full-time United Methodist minister in both the Mississippi and Arkansas Conferences.
David and Wensil were married for 63 years until her death in 2018. They set foot in all fifty states and many countries around the world, but he especially loved his annual month-long pilgrimages to Estes Park, Colorado, which they made for thirty years of his retired life.
He will be remembered as a good man who lived a good life—doing good work and being well blessed. Those who knew him saw God's hand clearly at work in the way he loved and served others.
David is survived by his son, Philip "Fritz" (Cathleen) Smith of Kennesaw, Georgia; his grandchildren Anita (Trevor) Carson, Tuesday Smith, Catherine (Justin) White, Morgan Smith, Debbie Hayes, and Jen Jons (Danny) of Sioux City; and his great-grandsons Colin, Stephen, and Griffin White. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Wensil; his daughter, Debra Sartin Segers; and his four younger sisters, including his youngest sister, Francis, whose memorial service he attended this past March.
A funeral service will be held on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at the chapel of the J.A. Funk Funeral Home in Malvern, Arkansas. In lieu of flowers, he would want you to love on your family, friends, and neighbors the way he loved on you. As Jesus said in Matthew 25:35–40:
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
So find a way to feed the hungry—body and spirit—even if all you have to offer is a bit of daily bread.