April 23, 2026 • 9 mins
It’s never easy losing a co-worker, friend, family member, & so on. Dr. Deb was one of the kindest persons I’ve ever met. She would come by the studio and peek in and always with a smile. And when I helped put all these great messages together I learned how much more amazing she was. Your memory and legacy will live on forever.
RIP Deborah
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bushman-friends--4817931/support.
RIP Deborah
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bushman-friends--4817931/support.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Doctor Deborah Smith Pollard, a powerful voice in gospel radio
and a pillar in our community.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
As Detroit and the gospel community come together and tribute.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
As we celebrate her life, her legacy, and her impact.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Hello, everyone is Kiera, she and Kelly and listen today
I want to honor the life and legacy of doctor
Deborah Smith Pollard. She is missed, She will be missed.
A woman whose impact reached far beyond what words can
fully capture. To so many, she was a scholar, a
leader of voice, of wisdom and excellence. But to me,
she was just so much more than that. Doctor Pollard
(00:35):
represented grace and strength at the same time. She carried
knowledge with humility, and she made you feel seen, valued
and inspired just by being in her presence. So we
celebrate her, we honor her, and we thank God for
the gift that was simply doctor Deborah Smith Pollard.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Hi, I'm Marvin Wannings, and I am deeply saddened by
the loss of daybrh Smith Pollard. But I want you
to know she lived a life. She was an academic,
she was a gospel historian. Her mother was a gospel
historian and supporter. She was a gospel enthusiast, and she
(01:16):
was a Donald val corlier. We had many times in
the morning our discussions about gospel music. She enjoyed the
James Cleveland Gospel music workshops. She studied it. She was
a great host, and boy, she was someone. If you
(01:38):
knew her, you knew somebody special. We miss you, but
God loves you best.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Everybody who's ever been born and will be born, has purpose.
There are some among us whose purpose is larger than normal.
Their purpose expands to impact a generation, a genre, a community.
Doctor Debraah Smith Pollard was one such person. Impact in
all three areas. Helped us to understand that the music
(02:03):
of the Black Church is not just something to enjoy
and experience, but it's something to study. She added more
dignity and more legitimacy to the music of the Black Church,
helping us to understand that this music is informational, it
is transformative, it is educational, and her work will be
(02:23):
perpetual in the Body of Christ. It will be perpetual
in the Lord's Church. We thank God for the life,
the labor, the legacy, the love of doctor Deborah Smith Pollard.
Thank God that he blessed us to share time and
space with this game changer, with this paradigm shifter, we
lift up her husband, her family as they walk through
(02:45):
this time of transition. I pray that God will send
ministers and angels to comfort that family. In the meantime,
we do not weep as those that have no hope.
We celebrate this work. We thank God for her witness
for Jesus, and we will forever be grateful and we
will always feel her impact because the work outlives the worker.
(03:07):
Thank you, doctor Deborah Smith Pollard, Rest in the Lord's
presence and to God be the glory for how you
impacted the world.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
This is Frank McGee from the Young Men for Christ.
We're deeply saddened by the loss of doctor Deborah Smith Pollard.
She was truly a phenomenal woman, an icon, and a
powerful voice in gospel music. We thank her for the
opportunity she gave us and for always supporting and uplifting
artists like us. Her legacy will ever live on in
our hearts and in the music we share.
Speaker 6 (03:34):
Hey's Tasha Page Lockhart and today we honor the one
and only doctor Deborah Smith Pollard. I remember, back when
I was a child, we had a group called Page three.
My sisters and I and we would go all around
the city of Detroit singing, and one year we sang
at the Heart Plaza Gospel fest and she was hosting it,
(03:55):
and I just remember seeing her. And then years later
she interviewed me when I was with Witness and we
sang at the Gospel fess again, and then I remember
her calling me and asking me to come to the
school and talk to the students. She always just encouraged
me and believed in me and was just the kindest person.
And she will definitely be missed and always remembered, never forgotten.
(04:19):
She's Detroit's owned. We honor her life and her legacy.
We loved her, and we are praying for each and
every family member, every close friend, and just the city
of Detroit because it was a great loss for all
of us. And so we're going to keep you in
our prayers. And I'm thankful for the time that I
was able to have with her, and I'm just honored
(04:40):
to have been able to know her and have access
to her. We will never forget you, and we love you.
Doctor Dewa Smith Pollard.
Speaker 7 (04:47):
What can you say about Deborah that hasn't already been said.
She was so much to so many people. For me,
she was a dear friend and a colleague, someone to
help me with my faith, always with an encouraging word
or something to uh uplift me. And when it came
to gospel music, the woman was a walking encyclopedia.
Speaker 8 (05:11):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (05:11):
I remember our conversations on the roots of gospel music,
and she gave me a history lesson on Thomas Dorsey
and Claire Ward, marrying Williams sister Rosetta Tharpe, and so
many others. And well, some people may not know about Deborah,
and she had a great sense of humor. She would
always crack me up and herself with some funny comments
(05:33):
she'd make in our our text threads. Certainly go miss depth.
And I thank God though for the time that he
blessed us with with Deborah, and will cherish her memories
and all of our great conversations and the wisdom that
she shared.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Hello.
Speaker 9 (05:49):
I'm a artist, producer, songwriter, Donald Lawrence. Deborah Smith Pollard
was a scholar. She was a brilliant woman and I'm
known her for quite some time. As a matter of fact,
she was a catalyst for breaking Donald Lawrence and the
Tri City Singers in the Detroit area. One of the catalysts.
I would say. I met her via attorney Ben Whitviille
and Brian Spears known her for quite some time. She's
(06:13):
always consistent personality and just the smoothness and the texture
of her voice. Just listening to her would calm you down.
She was also gracious enough to appear on My Unsung,
which was about my life story and music and everything.
So I will miss her. She was a beautiful person
and I'm definitely glad I lived during a time that
(06:34):
I could get to know her and experience her genius.
Rest in heaven. My sister, Deborah Smith Pollard, Donald Lawrence, Hi, this.
Speaker 10 (06:43):
Is Derick Mylan. First of all, I want to send
my condolences and prayers to the family and friends of
doctor Devis Smith Pollard. Her and I go way back
to a show she had on w DIV called God Sounds.
She invited my group to sing and we went and
ever since that day we've been rocking with each other.
I want to say thank you for playing my music,
(07:04):
thank you for standing behind me, thank you for m
seeing my concerts. You had a great voice, a great tone,
and a great smile. We love you, and we appreciate
all that you've done for my generation and generations to come.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
We love you.
Speaker 10 (07:22):
We're gonna miss you.
Speaker 8 (07:23):
Doctor Deborah Smith Hollard, affectionately known to me as Auntie Death.
I will forever love and she cherish her memories. So
many times we had conversations talking about the old days
of Elma Parham Hendricks and Donald Wale's and Thomas Whitfield,
Frank Eugene White, Bob Nick Jack Olsen, and the list
goes on and on, because she would say, you know
a lot to be so young. Well, I was the
(07:44):
baby of that day, and I'm grateful that she spent
that time with me that we were able to build
because she claimed me as her nephew. I'm the only
one that she allowed to call her. I T Deborah
that wasn't biologically blood. So again, I love you, Auntie.
I'll forever remember you, and I'll keep my promise because
your testimony was that you had a job working for Jesus,
and that's what we gonna continue to say.
Speaker 9 (08:06):
Love you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
This is a bitter Greg Davis and my journey with
Deborah Smith Pollard started when I was sixteen years old.
Her mother, Rosalie Smith, was my high school Marriywright High
School music teacher, and I would skip class.
Speaker 9 (08:20):
To go sit and talk.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And I remember her talking about her daughter Deborah, how
proud she was, and the running joke with me and
Debor was I stole her mother from her. This is
uh a difficult time for all of us, but legacy
of Deborah Smith Pollard will live through all of us.
Thank you, Thank you for being just who you were.
I don't know the impact. I don't know if you
(08:42):
know the impact that you had on all of us,
all the way from the Gospel Fest to keeping the
history of gospel music, playing MU playing our music. There's
not a Sunday I don't miss you and Glinda listening
to your so I wanna say thank you. Deborah Smith Pollard,
you will forever live in our memory. Tell my mother
I said hello,
Doctor Deborah Smith Pollard, a powerful voice in gospel radio
and a pillar in our community.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
As Detroit and the gospel community come together and tribute.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
As we celebrate her life, her legacy, and her impact.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Hello, everyone is Kiera, she and Kelly and listen today
I want to honor the life and legacy of doctor
Deborah Smith Pollard. She is missed, She will be missed.
A woman whose impact reached far beyond what words can
fully capture. To so many, she was a scholar, a
leader of voice, of wisdom and excellence. But to me,
she was just so much more than that. Doctor Pollard
(00:35):
represented grace and strength at the same time. She carried
knowledge with humility, and she made you feel seen, valued
and inspired just by being in her presence. So we
celebrate her, we honor her, and we thank God for
the gift that was simply doctor Deborah Smith Pollard.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Hi, I'm Marvin Wannings, and I am deeply saddened by
the loss of daybrh Smith Pollard. But I want you
to know she lived a life. She was an academic,
she was a gospel historian. Her mother was a gospel
historian and supporter. She was a gospel enthusiast, and she
(01:16):
was a Donald val corlier. We had many times in
the morning our discussions about gospel music. She enjoyed the
James Cleveland Gospel music workshops. She studied it. She was
a great host, and boy, she was someone. If you
(01:38):
knew her, you knew somebody special. We miss you, but
God loves you best.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Everybody who's ever been born and will be born, has purpose.
There are some among us whose purpose is larger than normal.
Their purpose expands to impact a generation, a genre, a community.
Doctor Debraah Smith Pollard was one such person. Impact in
all three areas. Helped us to understand that the music
(02:03):
of the Black Church is not just something to enjoy
and experience, but it's something to study. She added more
dignity and more legitimacy to the music of the Black Church,
helping us to understand that this music is informational, it
is transformative, it is educational, and her work will be
(02:23):
perpetual in the Body of Christ. It will be perpetual
in the Lord's Church. We thank God for the life,
the labor, the legacy, the love of doctor Deborah Smith Pollard.
Thank God that he blessed us to share time and
space with this game changer, with this paradigm shifter, we
lift up her husband, her family as they walk through
(02:45):
this time of transition. I pray that God will send
ministers and angels to comfort that family. In the meantime,
we do not weep as those that have no hope.
We celebrate this work. We thank God for her witness
for Jesus, and we will forever be grateful and we
will always feel her impact because the work outlives the worker.
(03:07):
Thank you, doctor Deborah Smith Pollard, Rest in the Lord's
presence and to God be the glory for how you
impacted the world.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
This is Frank McGee from the Young Men for Christ.
We're deeply saddened by the loss of doctor Deborah Smith Pollard.
She was truly a phenomenal woman, an icon, and a
powerful voice in gospel music. We thank her for the
opportunity she gave us and for always supporting and uplifting
artists like us. Her legacy will ever live on in
our hearts and in the music we share.
Speaker 6 (03:34):
Hey's Tasha Page Lockhart and today we honor the one
and only doctor Deborah Smith Pollard. I remember, back when
I was a child, we had a group called Page three.
My sisters and I and we would go all around
the city of Detroit singing, and one year we sang
at the Heart Plaza Gospel fest and she was hosting it,
(03:55):
and I just remember seeing her. And then years later
she interviewed me when I was with Witness and we
sang at the Gospel fess again, and then I remember
her calling me and asking me to come to the
school and talk to the students. She always just encouraged
me and believed in me and was just the kindest person.
And she will definitely be missed and always remembered, never forgotten.
(04:19):
She's Detroit's owned. We honor her life and her legacy.
We loved her, and we are praying for each and
every family member, every close friend, and just the city
of Detroit because it was a great loss for all
of us. And so we're going to keep you in
our prayers. And I'm thankful for the time that I
was able to have with her, and I'm just honored
(04:40):
to have been able to know her and have access
to her. We will never forget you, and we love you.
Doctor Dewa Smith Pollard.
Speaker 7 (04:47):
What can you say about Deborah that hasn't already been said.
She was so much to so many people. For me,
she was a dear friend and a colleague, someone to
help me with my faith, always with an encouraging word
or something to uh uplift me. And when it came
to gospel music, the woman was a walking encyclopedia.
Speaker 8 (05:11):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (05:11):
I remember our conversations on the roots of gospel music,
and she gave me a history lesson on Thomas Dorsey
and Claire Ward, marrying Williams sister Rosetta Tharpe, and so
many others. And well, some people may not know about Deborah,
and she had a great sense of humor. She would
always crack me up and herself with some funny comments
(05:33):
she'd make in our our text threads. Certainly go miss depth.
And I thank God though for the time that he
blessed us with with Deborah, and will cherish her memories
and all of our great conversations and the wisdom that
she shared.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Hello.
Speaker 9 (05:49):
I'm a artist, producer, songwriter, Donald Lawrence. Deborah Smith Pollard
was a scholar. She was a brilliant woman and I'm
known her for quite some time. As a matter of fact,
she was a catalyst for breaking Donald Lawrence and the
Tri City Singers in the Detroit area. One of the catalysts.
I would say. I met her via attorney Ben Whitviille
and Brian Spears known her for quite some time. She's
(06:13):
always consistent personality and just the smoothness and the texture
of her voice. Just listening to her would calm you down.
She was also gracious enough to appear on My Unsung,
which was about my life story and music and everything.
So I will miss her. She was a beautiful person
and I'm definitely glad I lived during a time that
(06:34):
I could get to know her and experience her genius.
Rest in heaven. My sister, Deborah Smith Pollard, Donald Lawrence, Hi, this.
Speaker 10 (06:43):
Is Derick Mylan. First of all, I want to send
my condolences and prayers to the family and friends of
doctor Devis Smith Pollard. Her and I go way back
to a show she had on w DIV called God Sounds.
She invited my group to sing and we went and
ever since that day we've been rocking with each other.
I want to say thank you for playing my music,
(07:04):
thank you for standing behind me, thank you for m
seeing my concerts. You had a great voice, a great tone,
and a great smile. We love you, and we appreciate
all that you've done for my generation and generations to come.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
We love you.
Speaker 10 (07:22):
We're gonna miss you.
Speaker 8 (07:23):
Doctor Deborah Smith Hollard, affectionately known to me as Auntie Death.
I will forever love and she cherish her memories. So
many times we had conversations talking about the old days
of Elma Parham Hendricks and Donald Wale's and Thomas Whitfield,
Frank Eugene White, Bob Nick Jack Olsen, and the list
goes on and on, because she would say, you know
a lot to be so young. Well, I was the
(07:44):
baby of that day, and I'm grateful that she spent
that time with me that we were able to build
because she claimed me as her nephew. I'm the only
one that she allowed to call her. I T Deborah
that wasn't biologically blood. So again, I love you, Auntie.
I'll forever remember you, and I'll keep my promise because
your testimony was that you had a job working for Jesus,
and that's what we gonna continue to say.
Speaker 9 (08:06):
Love you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
This is a bitter Greg Davis and my journey with
Deborah Smith Pollard started when I was sixteen years old.
Her mother, Rosalie Smith, was my high school Marriywright High
School music teacher, and I would skip class.
Speaker 9 (08:20):
To go sit and talk.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And I remember her talking about her daughter Deborah, how
proud she was, and the running joke with me and
Debor was I stole her mother from her. This is
uh a difficult time for all of us, but legacy
of Deborah Smith Pollard will live through all of us.
Thank you, Thank you for being just who you were.
I don't know the impact. I don't know if you
(08:42):
know the impact that you had on all of us,
all the way from the Gospel Fest to keeping the
history of gospel music, playing MU playing our music. There's
not a Sunday I don't miss you and Glinda listening
to your so I wanna say thank you. Deborah Smith Pollard,
you will forever live in our memory. Tell my mother
I said hello,
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