Harry Lester Smith

Harry married Ida L. Martin, who was an active youth worker in one of the churches he pastored. One son, Edward Marshall, was born to this marriage, who died at the age of thirty-five.

The Rev. Harry Lester Smith served as an Associate Pastor of the Methodist Church at Bellevue, near Pittsburgh. After this service he had the unusual distinction of being appointed the Senior Pastor of the same church. After three years service in that appointment, the Rev. Smith was appointed to the Delaware Avenue M.E. Church in Buffalo, New York. After a brief pastorate, he was sent to Detroit to pastor the Central Methodist Church. He filled this appointment for eight years. During this time, his skill and interest in the work of the church was noticed, causing thought that he would be a suitable candidate for bishop.

• Memoir for Bishop H. Lester Smith, in The Official Record and Year Book of the Fourteenth Session of The North-East Ohio Conference of The Methodist Church, held at Lakeside, Ohio, 24–29 June 1952. Hazen G. Werner, D.D., LL.D., Presiding Bishop, John Lane Williams, Secretary.