Changes

==Background==

==Background==

Smith was born to Joe Smith, Sr., and Louise Lindsay Smith in the unincorporated community of Selma in northern Grant Parish, located south of Georgetown on U.S. Highway 165. His parents were originally from rural areas. Louise Smith was a native of Eros in northeastern Jackson Parish. Smith, Sr., was originally from Geneva in Sabine County, [[Texas]], just west of the Sabine River. Geneva is considered the oldest continuously occupied town in East Texas.[4] Smith, Sr., was a bookkeeper for the former Interurban Transportation Company, formed by [[Morgan W. Walker, Sr.]]. The company was a forerunner of Continental Trailways bus  lines.[5]

Smith was born to Joe Smith, Sr., and Louise Lindsay Smith in the unincorporated community of Selma in northern Grant Parish, located south of Georgetown on U.S. Highway 165. His parents were originally from rural areas. Louise Smith was a native of Eros in northeastern Jackson Parish. Smith, Sr., was originally from Geneva in Sabine County, [[Texas]], just west of the Sabine River. Geneva is considered the oldest continuously occupied town in East Texas.[4] Smith, Sr., was a bookkeeper for the former Interurban Transportation Company, formed by [[Morgan W. Walker, Sr.]]. The company was a forerunner of Continental Trailways bus  lines.[5]

Smith graduated from Bolton High School in Alexandria, at the time the only high school for white youngsters in the Alexandria-Pineville area. [[African Americans]] in the segregated system then attended historically black Peabody High School in south Alexandria.[6] Among Smith's Bolton classmates were future Mayors William George Bowdon, Jr., and [[John K. Snyder]] future [[U.S. Representative]] Gillis William Long, and the industrialist and philanthropist [[Roy O. Martin, Jr.]][7]

Smith graduated from Bolton High School in Alexandria, at the time the only high school for white youngsters in the Alexandria-Pineville area. [[African Americans]] in the segregated system then attended historically black Peabody High School in south Alexandria.[6]  

An [[Episcopalian]], Smith graduated from [[Southern Baptist]]-affiliated [[Louisiana College]] in [[Pineville, Louisiana|Pineville]]. During [[World War II]], he served in the [[United States Army]] Air Corps, the forerunner of the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]]. On his release from the military in April 1946, Smith  was first employed at ''The Town Talk.'' He married the former Jane Wilson (1922–1992), a Bolton classmate[8] whose family owned the newspaper. The couple had one son, Larry Dorsey Smith (born 1947), a business management graduate of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and a retired Air Force officer who resides with his wife, Brenda Smith, in [[Austin]], Texas. After Jane's death, Smith married Bertie Murphy Deming (born December 26, 1925),[9] the widow of his long-time friend, physician John W. Deming, Sr. (May 17, 1920 – November 5, 1996),[10] a former member of the Rapides Parish School Board, based in Alexandria. With the second marriage came four stepchildren, John W. Deming Jr. of Palo Alto, [[California]], Claiborne P. Deming of El Dorado, [[Arkansas]], Bertie Deming Heiner of Charlottesville, [[Virginia]], and Cathy Deming Pierson of New Orleans.[11]

 

Among Smith's Bolton classmates were future Mayors William George Bowdon, Jr., and [[John K. Snyder]] future [[U.S. Representative]] Gillis William Long, and the industrialist and philanthropist [[Roy O. Martin, Jr.]][7]

 

An [[Episcopalian]], Smith graduated from [[Southern Baptist]]-affiliated [[Louisiana College]] in [[Pineville, Louisiana|Pineville]]. During [[World War II]], he served in the [[United States Army]] Air Corps, the forerunner of the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]]. On his release from the military in April 1946, Smith  was first employed at ''The Town Talk.'' He married the former Jane Wilson (1922–1992), a Bolton classmate[8] whose family owned the newspaper. The couple had one son, Larry Dorsey Smith (born 1947), a business management graduate of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston and a retired Air Force officer who resides with his wife, Brenda Smith, in [[Austin]], Texas.  

 

After Jane's death, Smith married Bertie Murphy Deming (born December 26, 1925),[9] the widow of his long-time friend, physician John W. Deming, Sr. (May 17, 1920 – November 5, 1996),[10] a former member of the Rapides Parish School Board, based in Alexandria. With the second marriage came four stepchildren, John W. Deming, Jr., of Palo Alto, [[California]], Claiborne P. Deming of El Dorado, [[Arkansas]], Bertie Deming Heiner of Charlottesville, [[Virginia]], and Cathy Deming Pierson of New Orleans.[11]

==Smith as publisher==

==Smith as publisher==