Raymond John Smith

Raymond John Smith

B. Saturday, June 10, 1933 D. Thursday, July 16, 2015

Raymond John Smith, 82, passed away Thursday morning, July 16, 2015, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona after a three year battle with cancer. Ray was born on June 10, 1933 at the Indian Health Service facility in Onigum, Minnesota.((An enrolled member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Ray was raised on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in Cass Lake, Minnesota.(( At the age of 11, Ray surrendered his life to Jesus Christ, beginning a spiritual journey that would become the center of his life. As a teenager, he was a gifted high school athlete and musician. Ray along with his sister Barb, and parents, Irene and Louis Smith, founded the original Smith Family Quartet, singing and preaching the gospel in English and the Ojibwe languages at churches, conferences, and wild rice and blueberry camps throughout the upper Midwest region. After High School, Ray attended St. Paul Bible Institute (Crown College). He was featured soloist with the St. Paul Choral Club, under the leadership of Dr. M. Tannehill, traveling extensively throughout the U.S., filling concert halls wherever they went. It was at St. Paul where he met his wife, Margurite Jean French of Toledo, Ohio. Ray and Jean raised their five sons in Cass Lake. After a brief time working with the Red Lake Nation, he began working with the Public Health Service in Cass Lake, Minnesota. He then accepted a position as coordinator of Talent Search at Bemidji State College (MN). He loved singing baritone as a member of the Timbertones Barbershop Quartet in Bemidji, Minnesota and is well remembered for his leading of congregational singing at The Christian and Missionary Alliance Church of Cass Lake. He also loved playing softball in the Bemidji Men’s Softball League and was an avid golfer.

In 1971 he accepted the position of president of The Mo-kah-um Indian Bible School in Cass Lake. It was during that time at Mo-kah-um when the next generation of this family’s music ministry began. For most of the 1970’s and into the early ‘80’s, the music ministry of The Smith Indian Family took them across North America in concerts, radio and television performances, and recordings. Ray also was involved for many years with The Chippewa Bible Broadcast, a Christian radio program in existence for over four decades with a Native listening audience in the U.S. and Canada. In the ensuing decades, Ray served with CHIEF Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona; also as the director for the Center for Indian Ministries at Oak Hills Fellowship in Bemidji, Minnesota for nine years, and returned to gospel music with his son, Craig, and family, with Smith Family Ministries. In 2001 he returned to serve on staff of CHIEF Inc., remaining with them until his passing. He was preceded in death by his parents, Louis and Irene Smith, his first wife, Margurite Jean Smith, brother, Myron Smith, and three great-grandchildren (Madeline Elizabeth), (Emma Grace), and (Baby Smith). He is survived by his second wife, Barb Kushman Smith, his sister, Barbara Ann Smith, his five sons, Russ, Gary (Connie), Craig (LaDonna), Scott (Priscilla), and Joel (Paula); a niece (Stephanie) and nephew (Stephen); three step-children Steve (Lisa), Connie (Bill) and Cathy (Brian); seven grandchildren Nizhoni, Dallas (Elizabeth), Shandiin (Stefan), Jessica, Kristina, Dezrik, and Sam; nine step-grandchildren, eight great grandchildren and four step-great grandchildren. An Arizona funeral service will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona on Sunday, July 19 at Hansen Mortuary, 6500 E. Bell Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85254.Visitation starts at 2:00 p.m., followed by service at 3:00 p.m. Visitation in Minnesota will be held on Sunday, July 26 at Cease Funeral Home, Cass Lake, MN from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Funeral service will be on Monday, July 27 at 11:00 a.m. at The Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Cass Lake, MN., with viewing from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the church. Interment will follow at Pine Grove Cemetery in Cass Lake, MN. A lunch will be served at the church following the graveside service.