Rev. William A. Smith, teacher and counselor

The Rev. William A. Smith was a pioneer in group counseling in the 1960s. In later years, the Luther Seminary professor became a spiritual guide to many, including Lutheran bishops.

About five bishops attended his funeral last week, including Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

"He called us to be attentive to God's presence, to hear God speak through Scripture, and to see Christ in the faces of those whom we met in daily life," Hanson said in an e-mail. Hanson said he, like many clergy and laity, turned to Smith "for prayer and guidance in our spiritual lives."

Smith, 85, died Aug. 26 from heart problems in St. Paul, said his wife, Anita Smith. In 2005, he received Luther's Christus Lux Mundi (Christ, Light of the World) Award, the St. Paul seminary's most distinguished honor, for his work. He offered student marriage enrichment courses into his retirement.

Smith started support groups for the divorced and for widows and widowers at his first church, Bethlehem Lutheran in south Minneapolis, in the 1960s. Smith told the Minneapolis Star in April 1971 that unless more such groups were offered, "where people can be listened to, than ministry as we know it today will die."

Smith became a pastoral counseling director in 1971 at the Wilder Foundation in St. Paul, which hired him to train clergy to counsel stressed families, said Tom Duke, whom Smith hired at Wilder.

"He was ahead of the curve for the later explosion of mutual self-help groups," said Duke, a retired executive director of the St. Paul Area Council of Churches. "He had the unorthodox approach of seeing the healing potential of peers who could be a support for each other and had gone through similar difficulties, at a time when it was taboo to talk about divorce, especially in a church setting."

Part of Smith's pastoral success stemmed from sharing his own struggles. In his early years, he was so busy that his marriage suffered, Duke said. Then Smith refocused. He and his wife began leading marriage enrichment courses, including discussing their own marriage issues, for Luther married students about 20 years ago, Anita Smith said.

Nearly 1,000 student couples have taken the course, said Luther Academic Dean Roland Martinson. Smith was a gentle counselor who "seemed to be able to read people's hearts and what they needed from him," said his wife. She said they had their squabbles over the years, but they every night they told each other: "I thank God for the gift of you and your love in my life."