REVEREND MILTON SMALTZ
(1895 - 1954)
Rev.
Smaltz, missionary to the deaf in the Dioceses of Bethlehem, Harrisburg,
Pittsburgh, and Erie died April 4 at his home in Mt. Gretna, Pa. at the age of
59. Death was attributed to
coronary occlusion.
Smaltz was
greatly respected for his unusual intellectual gifts and energy, not only by
the deaf of Pennsylvania, but the many hearing people with whom he had
contacts.
Smaltz,
the son of Henry Milton and Carrie Jennie (Godshalk) Smaltz, was born March 11,
at Stroudsburg, Pa. He received
his early education in the Stroudsburg public schools and the Pennsylvania
School for the Deaf, when, at the age of nine, he lost his hearing. In 1913 he graduated from Pennsylvania
School for the Deaf with first honors and was awarded a scholarship to
Germantown High School for Boys.
He completed the course there in February 1914, and was transferred to
Philadelphia Central High School for Boys. He graduated with third honors out of a class of 139 and
received the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
He was
awarded two scholarships, one to Columbia University and the other to the
University of Pennsylvania, but declined these when he decided to prepare
himself for the ministry and attend the Divinity School in Philadelphia. In the year 1922, the Rev. Mr. Smaltz
was graduated from the Divinity School with the degree of Bachelor of Sacred
Theology. Professors and
fellow-seminarians marveled at the outstanding grades he earned while at the
seminary. Later in that year, he
was selected to take a task to rearrange and listing the Divinity School's big
library - some 10,000 volumes - in a new building. In 1924 Central High School, which he had previously
attended, conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts (honoris causa).
Smaltz was
made a deacon on Trinity Sunday, 1923, and just seven months later - on
December 23 - he was raised to the priesthood. He was then appointed vicar of All Souls' Church for the
Deaf, Philadelphia, and general missionary in the Dioceses of New Jersey and
Delaware. In November of 1932 he
became general missionary in the field that comprised the four dioceses of
western Pennsylvania. Note: He was a layreader when Rev. F. C.
Smielau was a priest.
For
several years Smaltz served as a secretary of the Pennsylvania Society for the
Advancement of the Deaf and a trustee of the Home for the Aged and Infirm Deaf
at Torresdale, which was maintained by this Society. His Key accomplishment, in 1936, was that he set up and
chaired the Council for Social and Industrial Welfare of the Deaf
committee. He pushed the House
bill 2259 to pass. The bill was
passed with success. The bill gave
to the State Department of Labor and Industry the authority to place in
employment and rehabilitate unemployed deaf and hard of hearing people - in
other words, it creates a Division for the Deaf. Honorary D. M. Boies said in his letter to Smaltz,
"...as I' m sure they (the deaf) realize that you have done more for them
this year than has been done in all previous years of the state's
history."
Smaltz was
one of the few who proposed to reorganize the National Association of the Deaf,
1936, but the idea was put off until 1957.
Smaltz
wrote 2 papers, one was entitled "After School, What?” It was printed in American Annals of the
Deaf (1936), and another one was called "The Deaf in Modern
Industry", it was read at the 18th Triennial convention of the National
Association of the Deaf (1937).
He wrote
for several periodicals published for the deaf, and he was the author of several
articles that appeared in the American Mercury Magazine, some of which were
later reprinted in Reader's Digest.
Generally these were humorous insights into the deaf and the mute.
Smaltz was
probably proudest of his accomplishments in the theological field. In his last years he spent much time in
biblical research and developed a number of theories that were printed by the
Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis. He also belonged to the American Academy of Political and
Social Science and the American Oriental Society.
The
missionary did considerable lobbying at Harrisburg in behalf of the deaf of
Pennsylvania, and was largely responsible for several pieces of legislation
designed to aid persons so handicapped.
During the late 1930's and early 1940's Smaltz served as city chairman
of the Democratic County Committee and as a Democratic election campaign
chairman in Lebanon. In 1937 he
ran for school director in Lebanon but was unsuccessful.
By Reginald L. Boyd