Rev. William H. Smallwood, 96
On Jan. 2, the Rev. William H. Smallwood, 96, pastor of the Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia for 25 years and head of the Main Line NAACP in the 1950s, died of renal failure at his home in West Philadelphia.
During his decades as a minister, one of his daughters said yesterday, the Rev. William H. Smallwood "would perform weddings and funerals for people who were unchurched."
And, said Carole Smallwood-Statham, many of them came and joined the church where he was pastoring because they were so moved by what he said.
On Jan. 2, the Rev. Smallwood, 96, pastor of the Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia for 25 years and head of the Main Line NAACP in the 1950s, died of renal failure at his home in West Philadelphia.
"From the phone calls that I've gotten," his daughter said, "most have talked about how he was a mentor to them, young men and women who followed him into the ministry."
And at home, he displayed how remarkable his early education had been.
"Up until the day he died," she said, "he could remember poems that he learned in elementary school."
The Rev. Smallwood grew up in Philadelphia, graduated from Central High School, earned his bachelor's from Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1936 and his theology degree from Paine Theological Seminary in Xenia, Ohio, in 1937.
Ordained in 1938, the Rev. Smallwood began his ministry as assistant pastor at Philadelphia's historic Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church. Shortly thereafter, he was named pastor of its youth church.
His legacy might be strongest at Allen A.M.E., at 59th Street and Larchwood Avenue in West Philadelphia, where he was pastor from 1975 to 1997, the year he retired.
The Rev. Smallwood served there longer than any previous pastor, his family said. The church held special significance because it was where he had been baptized.
Besides presiding at Allen A.M.E., the Rev. Smallwood was pastor at Mt. Olive A.M.E., St. Paul A.M.E., Ward A.M.E. and Zion A.M.E., all in Philadelphia.
He was also pastor at Bethel A.M.E. in Bryn Mawr, Bethel A.M.E. in Cheltenham, Monumental A.M.E. in Steelton, St. John A.M.E. in Wayne, and Union A.M.E. in Easton.
At each of his churches, the Rev. Smallwood was the first pastor to set up a laymen's organization.
And from 1954 to 1956, on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning segregated education, he served two terms as president of the Main Line branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Beyond his own congregations, he served several larger religious organizations.
Six times, he was a delegate to the international body of the A.M.E. Church, its General Conference.
He was the A.M.E. Church representative to the Metropolitan Council of Churches of Philadelphia.
And for the Philadelphia A.M.E. Conference, he served as secretary of its trustees, secretary of its annual conference, a member of its board of examiners, president of its board of Christian education, and presiding elder of its South Philadelphia district.
The Rev. Smallwood was a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity and, earlier, among the first five African American Philadelphians to become Eagle Scouts.
In addition to daughter Carole, the Rev. Smallwood is survived by another daughter, the Rev. Gloria J. Smallwood; four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. His wife, Ruth, whom he married in 1937, died in 1996.
A viewing was set for 9 to 11 a.m. today at Mother Bethel A.M.E., Sixth and Lombard Streets, followed by an 11 a.m. funeral service there. Burial is to be in Fernwood Cemetery, East Lansdowne.
