Earl S Smith

Earl Samuel Smith, a remarkable and beloved family man and the former CEO of the Valley Trust Company died September 25, 2015 at the age of 95 with his daughters by his side.  A resident of Palmyra for 65 years, he passed away in Fort Worth, Texas where he had lived for the past three years with his daughter. Earl was the beloved husband of the late Catharine (Cas) Curry Smith to whom he was married for 56 years.

Born December 16, 1919, in Red Lion, Pennsylvania where his family owned the Wallick House Hotel, Earl was a 1941 graduate of Elizabethtown College and a World War II Army veteran, having served in the China-Burma-India Theater.

Earl began his banking career as a part-time teller at the Valley Trust Company in 1947, rising through the ranks to become its CEO and then senior vice president of American Bank and Trust Company after its merger.   A member of the executive committee of the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, he was a former president of both the Lebanon County Bankers Association and the Lebanon Chapter of the American Institute of Banking. Earl was the embodiment of the small town banker taking pride in knowing and serving his customers, helping them to build businesses and buy their first homes.

A member of the greatest generation, his life was dedicated to the institutions revered by that generation: community, church and family.  Earl served as president of the Palmyra Rotary Club to which he belonged for half a century.  He was a charter member of the board of directors of the Lebanon Valley Brethren Home and served as a board member and its treasurer for over 20 years.

Earl and Cas could be found sitting faithfully in the same pew on Sunday mornings at The Palmyra Church of the Brethren where he served the church as lifetime deacon, its first lay moderator and chairman of the board of administration.

Earl believed that communication holds a family together.  Five days a week for 25 years, he wrote the family a one-page letter and then raced with it to the Post Office by 5pm.  Often, he enclosed his signature two-dollar bills.

His mind remained ever sharp. To the last day of his life, he read the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today and diligently clipped business articles relevant to the careers of his grandchildren.

Earl’s life as a good and decent man became his grandchildren’s moral compass.  Known affectionately as “Pa”, he was their hero for going far outside his comfort zone to engage in their passions. He fished the Colorado, house-boated on Lake Powell, attended his grandsons’ classes at Princeton and Stanford and walked his eldest grandson down the aisle.

While Earl relocated to Texas, his heart remained in Palmyra. He mastered the iPad so he could stay on top of what was happening in Lebanon County. Wherever he went, Palmyra remained the center of his interest and he believed there were no better people than the people of Palmyra.

He was the subject of the book, “Bob & Earl: An American Friendship,” the story of the lives and friendship of Earl and his best friend of sixty years, Bob DiMatteo.

He is survived by three grateful children: Barbara Ruger Castell, Fort Lauderdale, FL; Philip (Rollee), Grand Junction, CO; and Cynthia O’Reilly (Dr. John), Fort Worth, TX; and five grandchildren: Jared B. Ruger (Erin), San Francisco, CA; Jonathan Garth O’Reilly, Dallas, TX; Catharine “Brie” O’Reilly, New York, NY; Alex Curry Smith, Portland, ME; and Evan Lawrence Smith, Denver, CO; and two great granddaughters: Carson Ruger and Catharine Smith Ruger.  His mother, Elsie Smith Dalberg, step-father F.H. Dalberg,  brother Richard Smith and devoted son-in-law J. Ronald Castell predeceased him.

Earl’s unequivocal values of family, responsibility and humility will forever inspire those who loved him.

A memorial service with be held Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 11 am in the Palmyra Church of the Brethren, 45 North Chestnut Street, Palmyra, PA 17078.  Arrangements have been entrusted to Rothermel-Finkenbinder Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc., 25 West Pine Street, Palmyra.

Condolences and memories may be shared at www.rothermelfuenralhome.com  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Earl and Catharine Smith Memorial fund at the Palmyra Church of the Brethren.