Steve Smallman Obituary, Death – My father, Steve Smallman, left this world about 11:45 a.m. yesterday, and it is with a broken and thankful heart that I share the news with you. My sister was commenting on how appropriate it was that he transitioned from this world to the next on the exact day and hour that he had preached for such a significant number of years.
Even in his final few days, my father maintained his reputation for being a nice and compassionate person to everyone he met, which I consider to be his crowning achievement. To be able to call myself his daughter is an honor that I will never take for granted. My father’s dismissal from the Wheaton High School basketball team was one of the most formative experiences of his life and remains one of my most vivid childhood memories.
In search of additional playing opportunities, he signed up for the basketball team at Wheaton Bible Church, which required him to attend services on a regular basis! There, he learned for the first time about the life of Jesus, including his death and resurrection. He converted to Christianity in a hurry and told his two younger brothers about the newfound hope he had discovered.
They, too, acknowledged this unquestionable fact. Following their entry into full-time ministry, all three began spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, which has literally spread to every corner of the earth. Before moving his ministry to Philadelphia, where he served in numerous churches and taught in a school for inner-city pastors, my father spent 29 years as the Senior Pastor of the McLean Presbyterian Church.
During that time, he was also a professor. This month marks 62 years of marriage for him to my mother, Sandy, and he would have turned 83 years old had he lived. My mom and dad were an incredible tag team! They have a total of four children, eleven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren between the two of them. He was a spiritual father to a great number of people, and he will be mourned tremendously by all of them, as well as by his family and his dog Bella.
