Dr. Benjamin H. Smith

Dr. Benjamin H. Smith, Jr., age 91, passed away Monday, September 15, 2014, at Wellmont Holsten Valley Medical Center after a short illness. He was born in Manchester, Georgia and received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Emory University. After serving in the US Navy in World War II, primarily in the western Pacific Theater, Dr. Smith continued graduate studies in Chemistry at Emory and the University of Virginia, where he completed his PhD.

He and his family then settled in Kingsport, Tennessee, where he worked for Tennessee Eastman Corporation. Dr. Smith began his thirty-year career in the Research Department, and later transferred into the production side of Organic Chemicals, rising to serve as Superintendent of the Organic Chemicals Division. He retired in 1983.

Dr. Smith was very active at St. Paul's Episcopal Church and was a longtime President of the Men's Club.

In his retirement Dr. Smith enjoyed orchestral music and art history. He regularly attended concerts and art exhibits with his second wife, Mildred Schulken Smith, to whom he was married from 1974 until her passing in 2010. He also served on the Kingsport Symphony Orchestra's Board of Directors.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Mildred, by his parents, Pearl and Benjamin Smith, Sr., and by his son, Benjamin Harper Smith, III.

Dr. Smith is survived by two children, Charles Smith and Ellen Serrano (Felix) from his first marriage, and three children from his wife Mildred's first marriage, Laurie Williamson (Richard), Gregory Earnheart (Nancy), and Barbara Rohde (Robert). He is also survived by two grandsons, Jonathan and Carlos Serrano, one great-grandson, and three grandchildren from his wife Mildred's first marriage, Charles, James, and Susannah Williamson.

The family will receive friends from 4 - 6 PM, on Sunday, September 21 at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Home, Kingsport.

Funeral services will be held at on Monday, September 22, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. First Broad Street United Methodist Church Chapel with a brief reception to follow. Interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 161 E. Ravine Rd, Kingsport; or First Broad Street United Methodist Church, 100 E. Church Circle, Kingsport; or to the Symphony of the Mountains, 1200 East Center Street, Suite 311, Kingsport.