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RANGE RIDER | SPRING-SUMMER 2018
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IVAN I. SMITH
Business Owner,
Community Leader
Ivan Smith has lived his
life by a simple code — faith,
family, service and leadership.
It’s a code that has guided him
since his time at HSU and
has given him purpose as a
community leader.
After graduating from HSU
with a business degree in 1968,
Smith began working for his
father at Ivan Smith Furniture.
He bought the business from
his dad in 1976 and began
expanding his locations with
an average of about one store
a year. Today, the company
has 43 Ivan Smith Furniture
locations and four Ashley
Homestore locations in East
Texas, southern Arkansas, and
north and central Louisiana.
Now under the leadership of
his sons, Ivan Smith Furniture
has received the J. Pat Beaird
Industry of the Year Award
and the Torch Award from the
Better Business Bureau.
Smith has served on and
chaired several boards,
including Volunteers of
America, Goodwill Industries,
Highland Center, Commercial
National Bank (now Regions),
Retail Merchants Association
and Hardin-Simmons
University Board of Trustees. In
1984, he served in Zimbabwe,
Africa, rebuilding missionary
housing in the bush country.
He also has sponsored medical
missions to Kenya, Africa.
Smith’s community
service includes helping
to sponsor a children and
youth program for the less
fortunate in Minden, La. In
the early years of Shreveport/
Bossier Community Renewal,
he was one of the primary
supporters. Additionally, he
was a major sponsor of the
Thanksgiving Blessing at
the Highland Center, which
feeds 500 families for the
week. In the last few years,
he became one of the major
sponsors of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes of Northwest
Louisiana.
Smith has received numerous
awards for his community
service and leadership. In 2000,
he was recognized as one of
the top 10 leaders of the new
century in the Shreveport
community. He received the
Byrd High School Hall of
Fame Award in 2013 and the
Greater Shreveport Chamber
of Commerce Business Leader
of the Year Award in 2015.
He also received the Harry
Blake Humanitarian Civil
Rights Award and the America
Humanitarian Award from the
Volunteers of America.
As a member of the First
Baptist Church in Shreveport,
Smith has served as chairman
of the deacons. He married
Gloria Greenlee in 1967. They
have four adult children and
eight grandchildren, with
number nine due at the end of
the summer.
DR. ELWIN L.
SKILES
Pastor, University
President
At the age of three months,
Elwin Skiles became an
Abilenian when his parents
moved to the city in the fall
of 1912 so that his late father
could continue his education
at Simmons College, now HSU.
Skiles attended HSU from 1930
to 1932, before finishing his
degree at Baylor University.
He had determined by the
time he finished high school
that he would enter the
ministry and was ordained
by the First Baptist Church of
Cisco in 1933.
Skiles attended Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary
in Louisville, Ky., earning his
master of theology and doctor
of philosophy degrees in 1938
and 1941.
In 1938, he married Ruth
Kinder of Homer, La., a student
whom he met at Baylor. She
received a bachelor’s degree
from Baylor in 1937.
For a quarter century, he
served as pastor of Baptist
churches in Russellville,
Kentucky; Richmond, Virginia;
Georgetown, Kentucky;
Pensacola, Florida; and Abilene,
Texas. He served as pastor of
First Baptist Church in Abilene
for 13 years before he was
elected president of Hardin-
Simmons University in 1966.
During Skiles’ presidency at
HSU, the physical appearance
of the campus was changed
drastically. New buildings
included the Sid Richardson
Science Center, the Mabee
Military Science Building, the
president’s home on Cedar
Street, the Cowboy Band Hall,
Woodward-Dellis Recital Hall,
Rupert and Pauline Richardson
Library, maintenance building
and warehouse, and the central
heating and air conditioning
plant. Funds also were raised
for the Mabee Physical
Education-Health-Athletic
Complex. Other improvements
included the Brand Swimming
Pool and Recreation Area, the
Streich Tennis Center and a
new baseball field.
Dr. Skiles was a great orator,
a dignified gentleman who
possessed a clever sense of
humor and an extremely
effective fundraiser who
understood the importance
of expanding the institution’s
contacts throughout the nation
and the world. During his last
commencement, the Board of
Trustees awarded him with an
honorary doctorate. He was
named chancellor — a title
he held for six years — and
was then named president
emeritus.
Dr. Skiles and his wife,
Ruth, had three children, five
grandchildren and two great-
grandchildren. He passed away
March 22, 2002, at the age of
89. His children made the lead
gift to the Skiles Building on
the HSU campus — a beautiful
and lasting tribute to their
father. The building opened in
2003.
AWARDS