Collection HM1/1023 - Dorothy Smith Shank Papers

Dorothy Smith was born in 1911 to John J. and Catherine E. Smith near Eureka, Illinois. After her mother died in 1914 of tuberculosis, Smith went to live with her uncle and aunt, Ben and Emma Schertz. Her father later died in 1924 at the age of fifty. Her siblings were Willard H. Smith (longtime professor of history at Goshen College), Tilman Smith (Hesston College President from 1959 to 1968), Milton Smith, and George Smith (half-brother).

After graduating from Goshen College in 1932, Smith worked first as a teacher in rural Illinois before enrolling in the graduate program in English at Indiana University where she also completed a teaching certificate in music. From 1934 to 1940, she taught English, music, and German at a high school in North Lima, Ohio.

She married Lauren J. Shank in November 1940 and became stepmother to Richard, Joan, and James Shank. Lauren and Dorothy had another child, Susan, in 1945. They lived on a poultry farm in North Lima until the early 1950s when they moved to Goshen, Indiana. Lauren operated a realty company and Dorothy taught part-time at Bethany Christian High School. They were active members of College Mennonite Church.