The Colonel and I finally (I am a bit ashamed to admit) made good on a 9-year old promise (actually, The Colonel made the promise, not me) to an old friend of ours who passed away in 2012.
Our friend's name was Henry Woodward but everyone called her (yes, I said her...her father wanted a boy) Smiley. She was a classy lady. Always dressed nicely. She loved her sparkly ball caps.
The Colonel and I met Smiley shortly after we retired. She would always come to the events at the little museum we volunteer for (and bring along a little bottle of Asti Spumante to share) . We would sit and talk with her and listen to her stories about growing up in Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island which is not far from Ft. Myers and Sanibel Island.
Her mother was the cook/housekeeper of Mrs. Crowninshield (famous, rich, American family who married into the DuPont family...Mrs. Crowninshield's maiden name was DuPont). When Smiley was about four years old, she would often be the go-between for Mrs. Crowninshield and Mrs. Dupont while they were vacationing in Boca Grande. Mrs. Crowninshield would pin a little note on Smiley's dress and send her along to Mrs. Dupont's house. When Smiley arrived with the note, Mrs. Dupont would take the note and have Smiley sit at the kitchen table and give her some milk and cookies as she wrote her reply for Smiley to take back to Mrs. Crowninshield.
One story goes that Mrs. Crowninshield learned from Smiley's mother that the people of color could not watch movies in the theater in Boca Grande. Mrs. Crowninshield was not pleased with that report and soon purchased the theater and added more seating so that Smiley and those like her could now enjoy the movies too.
Smiley was born in Clewiston, FL on November 8, 1931. She was a lung cancer survivor. She would battle dementia and Alzheimer's disease before she passed away. As stated earlier, she grew up in Boca Grande, FL and when she grew up she moved to Los Angeles, CA where she lived for over 40 years. Upon retiring from Xerox after 20 years, she moved back to Florida to Punta Gorda. Smiley was active with historical projects in Boca Grande when she returned and was later recognized as a historian. She was also active in many community organizations in Punta Gorda.
Smiley would invite The Colonel and I to her home where she would promptly feed us. We sat in her small kitchen as she warmed up the most delicious and spicy barbequed ribs.
One day, The Colonel met Smiley out at the cemetery where some of her relatives were buried and where she would be buried too when the time came. He, at her request, was painting her family's grave markers. She asked The Colonel to promise to paint her grave marker when it was her time to be buried. He said of course he would.
Smiley passed away in August of 2012, at the age of 80. The Colonel and I went to the cemetery in March of 2021 to make good on his promise to paint her grave marker (we had made visits to the cemetery during the 9-year span but we never had the paint and supplies with us until then).
Better late than never...rest in peace Smiley.
