Guide to the L.E. Smith Papers

Born in Maclean County, Kentucky L.E. Smith was the son of a circuit minister farmer and one of twelve children. At the age of ten he worked hauling logs between Ohio and Green River area in Kentucky. His mother's poor health caused the family to move to Asheville, NC in 1897 where she died a year later. Then followed a period of financial hardship that led them to Kentucky and parts of Oklahoma. In 1907 L.E. Smith left to go to the University of Kentucky and worked his way through until his graduation in 1911. He then went on to complete medical school at John Hopkins University, 1911-1915 with some help from the Board of Education of the PCUSA. His summers were spent as camp doctor at the Y.M.C.A. Camp Becket in Mass. During this time L.E. Smith was also heavily involved with the Seaman's Mission and the Christian Endeavor Society in Baltimore.

The September following his graduation from John Hopkins University, L.E. Smith spent his year of medical residency in Puerto Rico. He was then appointed to the West Africa Mission by the PCUSA in 1916 and left for the Benito Station in Spanish Guinea. Smith remained until 1920 when he returned to the U.S. to marry Beulah Lipps and resumed his duties at Benito the same year. They both left Africa permanently in October 1922 when Beulah became seriously ill.

On his return to the U.S., L.E. Smith continued to work for the Board of Foreign Missions until 1926 as a successful lecturer touring the country to various churches and schools talking about his mission work in Africa. After his employment with the Board was discontinued, Smith continued to tour on his own with the support of donations until 1928 when he was appointed to the Breathitt County, Kentucky Health Department. In 1930 Smith then went to work for the Kentucky Tuberculosis Association as the Executive Secretary in charge of Kentucky and pioneered significantly in Tuberculosis prevention and public education until his retirement in 1951. He died in 1955.