Riley Blake Smith, age 81, passed away Sunday, October 2, 2011 at Emmanuel Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Danville, Pennsylvania after a lengthy illness. Dr. Smith was an Associate Professor in the English Department at Bloomsburg University where he taught for 27 years. He was born on Monday, July 7, 1930, in Mexico, Missouri and was the son of the late Dr. Blake and Alberta Smith of Austin, Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Doctor of Philosophy in English both from the University of Texas at Austin. He was Co-founder and Director of the English Language Institute of Texas and coordinated English as a second language for Pease Corps Training at the University of Texas and Reed College in Oregon. He taught English at Universitat Wuppertal and Universitat Duisburg in Germany. Dr. Smith was a Fulbright Scholar to St. Petersburg in Russia and he taught special programs for visiting Russian English Professors at UCLA. After his retirement from Bloomsburg University, Dr. Smith was a volunteer at Greenwood Friends School.
He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Sandra W. Smith of Bloomsburg and daughter: Susanna Blake Bushnell of Atlanta, Georgia. He is also survived by a daughter: Sarah Margaret Taylor and husband, William Keller Taylor, granddaughter: Kathryn Riley Taylor, and grandson: William Blake Taylor, all of Denver, Colorado. Also surviving are brothers: Warren A. Smith of Little Rock, Arkansas and Dr. Benjamin W. Smith of Redlands, California. He was preceded in death by older brother, John Lee Smith of Ithaca, New York.
Friends, family and colleagues are welcome at a Friends Memorial Meeting to be held at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 5, 2011 at the Quaker Meeting House of the Millville Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 351 East Main Street, Millville, PA 17846.
Private Graveside Services will be held at the Quaker Cemetery in Millville. Memorial gifts may be sent to Greenwood Friends School, P.O. Box 438, Millville, PA 17846-0178.