Tribute to Mr Ben and Mrs Merle Smith
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES [10.28 p.m.]: On Saturday 3 May I attended the celebration of the sixty-fifth wedding anniversary of Ben and Merle Smith and Ben’s ninetieth birthday and Merle’s eighty-ninth birthday at the Stanford Grand Hotel on Epping Road, Eastwood. It was a significant occasion. Ben and Merle have enjoyed 65 years of married partnership and strong family life and have given a combined total of 74 years voluntary service to the needy in the community through Wesley Mission. As a schoolteacher, Ben’s influence in many communities has been exceptional. He has continued well beyond retirement age to teach history at Wesley’s School for Seniors, which has about 1,400 students enrolled each year. Ben preached most Sundays for 65 years as a lay preacher. His son David said:
We kids had Dad as father, teacher and preacher. It presented no problem in school with Dad—he has provided a great basis for our education. He never used the cane in any of his one-teacher schools—not even on us!
It was at Waverley Baptist Church that Ben met Merle in the Christian Endeavour Society. Ben and Merle were both teachers in the Sunday school—Ben ultimately becoming Sunday school superintendent at Woollahra Baptist. Having completed his studies at teachers’ college, Ben was appointed to a series of one-teacher public schools at Toogong in the central-west of New South Wales, near Orange. In 1938 Merle and Ben were married and their marriage stands strong after 65 years. In 1939, at the commencement of World War II, Ben enlisted in the Australian Air Force, filling various postings including at Upwey, Victoria. During that period of enlistment, Merle with three youngsters moved to Victoria to be near Ben. Following Ben’s demobilisation, he rejoined the teaching force. They lived at Concord and the Hunter Valley until 1956 when they moved to Guildford.
Ben became a qualified Methodist local preacher and was much in demand in leading worship services in many denominations. He conducted his last church service at the age of 87. Always justifiably proud of their three children, this was never more obvious than when Jan, Phillip and David operated as a folk rock group. In 1966, on a Sunday night, when Merle was worshipping at the mission in the new Lyceum, she responded to an appeal by Reverend Dr Sir Alan Walker. Volunteers were urgently needed to serve in the restaurant in the new centre. Thus began a combined 74 years of sterling service to this present time. Avenues of volunteer service have included attending at the welcome desk at Wesley Centre, membership in Christian Climbers and becoming leaders for 21 years, involvement with the College for Christians and Lifeline telephone counselling; teaching church history in school for seniors and working for many spring fairs in fundraising and stewardship campaigns. They fed the hungry multitudes at times of conferences and synods. They were foundation members in establishing the 3 p.m. congregation at the Wesley Mission. We honour such people, with long service in the community as volunteers, as Ben and Merle Smith. 20 May 2003.
