Former Extension Educator Makes Prudent Investments

If you ask John Smith, he’ll tell you that Penn State and Cooperative Extension have allowed him to pursue his personal passions while giving him many good things in life: good memories from his earliest days as a young 4-H’er, a wonderful marriage, and a 31-year career as a county extension educator and director. So, when it comes to choosing institutions to support, it’s no surprise that he puts the university and extension at the head of his list.

Last year, Smith created the John T. and Paige S. Smith Professorship in Agricultural Sciences to supplement departmental support for outstanding faculty in their teaching, research, and public service. The professorship, currently held by Gary Perdew, Distinguished Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, is the latest among several philanthropic activities initiated by Smith, including a scholarship in Agricultural and Extension Education, a similar professorship in science at Penn State York, a mentoring fund in the College of Health and Human Development, an endowed athletic scholarship, and a $50,000 pledge to The Arboretum at Penn State in memory of his late wife, Paige.

“I give Penn State all the credit for how I got where I did,” he says of his graduation in 1942. “I got a good education and was treated like a gentleman—I have no complaints.”

Growing up on a farm along the Juniata River outside of Mexico, Pa., Smith didn’t think he was college material but decided to try a two-year course that would help his farming. Success with that program convinced him to continue and complete a four-year degree. After graduation, he taught school in western Pennsylvania and did a two-year stint as a U.S. Navy gunnery instructor, then decided to return to farming and teaching in his home town.

“I taught for a year, and then Penn State Extension offered me a job so I got to work with youth and agriculture—my two favorite things in life,” he says. “It’s just something that I’ve always loved. I’m happiest when I’m digging in the dirt or looking at animals. I think it was a love of working with people who have the same goals that you have and who are interested in the same areas of agriculture. It’s been my life, and it’s been enjoyable.”

Smith met his wife through extension. Born on a farm near Bloomsburg, Pa., Paige was a 1948 Penn State alumna in home economics who worked for extension in Lebanon County before they married, and taught in York Suburban High School for many years after. “She had such tremendous ability; I’ve never seen a woman with more,” he says. “She could take a bunch of old weeds and make a beautiful arrangement out of it.”