| OBITUARY
Ex-Chief of Carrollton schools dies
Newman Smith oversaw district's growth from 1962-76
Former Carrollton-Farmers Branch school Superintendent Newman Smith, who guided
the district during an era of explosive growth in the 1960s and '70s, died
Saturday after a bout with a pneumonia. He was 86.
Mr. Smith retired in 1976, a year after the larger of the district's two high
schools was named in his honor. In all, he spent 47 years as a teacher and
administrator.
"When I think of Mr. Smith, the first thing I think of was he was a gentleman .
. . a gentle man," said June Thompson, a member of the school board and the
district's first female principal in the early 1970s.
Mr. Smith was a tall, quiet, serious man but showed a dry sense of humor, Ms.
Thompson said.
He used to say what he wanted was a teacher "who gets up in the morning and
says, `Good morning, Lord,' instead of `Good Lord, it's morning,' " she said.
Colleagues praised his leadership as he guided the suburban district through its
most rapid period of growth and an turbulent era of social change.
When Mr. Smith was chosen to lead the Carrollton-Farmers Branch district In
1962, it had about 5,000 students. When he retired, the enrollment had almost
tripled.
He was hired away from the Temple, Texas, school district after the death of
Superintendent R.L. Turner . The other
high school in Carrollton-Farmers Branch is named after Mr. Turner.
School board President Donald Sheffield, a board member since 1964, said that
Mr. Smith led the district's racial integration.
A suit to integrate the district had been filed before Mr. Smith was hired, Mr.
Sheffield said. Shortly after he took control of the district, a federal court -
with Mr. Smith's help - drafted a plan that would have desegregated the district
over a 12-year-old period.
But in his second year as superintendent, Mr. Smith decided that the schools
should be integrated immediately, and he asked a judge to overturn the 12-year
plan.
"He guided that plan, full integration in one year, and very successfully," Mr.
Sheffield said.
He also added libraries to each school and instituted
special-education programs that became renowned in the state, colleagues said.
"He was very much aware of the importance of the teachers in the district," Ms.
Thompson said. "He wanted to look at everyone's viewpoint."
For instance, she said, if a principal wanted to make a big change in a school,
Mr. Smith would always ask what the teachers thought of it.
Mr. Smith's wife, Pauline, said her husband grew up on a farm in Hamilton County
in Central Texas, in an area that had only about three library books.
"He read all three every year, and that's why he put libraries in all the
(Carrollton) schools," she said.
Mr. Smith received a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Texas A&I University in
Kingsville and a master's in mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin.
After his retirement, he and his wife traveled extensively, visiting Europe,
Japan, Africa, the Middle East and Australia, among other places.
He was also active in Covenant Presbyterian Church in Carrollton, where he
served as an elder and on the building committee.
In recent months, Mr. Smith suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
Besides his wife, Mr. Smith is survived by a daughter, Linda Smith Howell of
Arlington; a son, Newman Smith Jr. of Scottsdale, Ariz.; two brothers, Thurman
Smith and Norman Smith; two
grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
Services will be 3:30 p.m. Monday at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1700 South
Josey Lane in Carrollton.
The Dallas Morning News - April 17, 1994
Submitted by Edward Lynn
Williams |
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