Graveside service for George Francis Smith age 90, will be 11:00 A.M. Saturday, January 8, 2022 at Rose Hill Cemetery in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

Burial will be under the direction of Becker-Rabon Funeral Home.

Born October 18, 1931 in Chickasha, OK to Robert Wiley and Sarah Leona (Flynt) Smith departed this life January 5, 2022 in Lawton, OK.  He married the love of his life, Evelyn Marie Mitchell, at Chickasha in 1954. While in high school he performed solo piano recitals and won state academic championships in mathematics, English, speech and debate. He received bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the University of Oklahoma, and the doctoral degree in music from the University of North Texas. In college he won speech honors, including the Oklahoma Intercollegiate debate championship and the Better Speakers Contest of the Southern Baptist Convention.  He was a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society and Pi Kappa Delta forensic society. He taught music in Oklahoma at Frederick, Tulsa, Southeastern State University at Durant, and Cameron University at Lawton. His choirs performed widely including the New York World's Fair, the Mexican-American Cultural Institute in Mexico City, the Air Force Academy chapel, and with the Oklahoma Symphony.  At the 1972 USO convention in Boston his Cameron Singers shared the stage with Bob Hope.  He also directed church choirs for many years. At Cameron he led the music department to national accreditation, and introduced the Contemporary Music Festival and student awards banquets.  He designed the music buildings at Southeastern and at Cameron, as well as 3 of his homes. In 1969, he joined Chester Wells in organizing the Lawton Arts & Humanities Council.  In 1971, he teamed with Todd Lane, of Ft Sill, to inaugurate the Lawton/Ft Sill Arts Festival (now known as Arts for All).  In 1979, He helped inaugurate the Lawton Ethnic Festival, (now known as International Festival). In 1981 he formed the Southwest Oklahoma Chorale, which performed in Oklahoma and Texas.  He was a life member of the Music Educators National Conference and the American Choral Directors Association.  He retired from Cameron in1990 to pursue business interests. He taught an adult Sunday school class at the First Baptist Church.  He enjoyed travel and visited all 50 states and 18 foreign countries.  He was an avid reader and enjoyed golf.

He is survived by sons: R Brent Smith MD (wife LaDonna) of Lawton and G Keith Smith MD (wife Darla) of Edmond; grandchildren: Julia Stoltenberg MD (Braden DDS) of Norman, Hayden Comphel (Isabella) of Portland, OR, Andrew of Oklahoma City, Alex of Metairie, LA (Mary JD), and Sam of Ft Worth, TX, Lauren Neundorf of Edmond; and great grandchildren: Graham, Vivian, Evelyn, and Jeannette.

"If I were to write my own epitaph, it might be, He had an instinct for teaching—he taught, naturally, all the time in personal conversation.  He loved the play of ideas and pursuing truth wherever it led." Dr. George F. Smith