Marcia Smith

Marcia was born in Providence Rhode Island in 1923. She lived to be 101 and 8 months old! Being exceptionally intelligent, she graduated high school early and went to Rhode Island College (now University of Rhode Island) and earned two bachelor’s degrees. She was famous for telling people she wanted four children, two boys and two girls in that order and all about two years apart. And, that’s what she got: Howard, Andy, Laurie and Wendy and then five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

She came to Colorado in 2016 at the age of 93 and announced it opened up a whole new world for her. She got to go on two cruises, never having travelled before and she loved getting out in the neighborhood and attending The Senior Spot. Her sense of humor and smile will be missed.

My Mother’s Lifelong Devotion to Reading: A tribute from her daughter, Laurie 

Since a young girl, reading books opened a whole new world for my mother, fulfilling her need for escapism, relieving boredom and monotony, and offering her something exciting to look forward to, particularly in her old age when physical frailty set in. She used to get so emotionally charged when reading, that you often would hear her laugh or witness tears streaming down her face. While raising four children, she managed to train us to go into our rooms for “rest time” every afternoon and she would have her tea, put her feet up and read a book.  There was never any excuse for us to complain that we were bored, since we always had access to books. We could be sent out of the house to walk to the library on our own, if we did not venture into our local park along the way, fall through the ice on the creek and watch our library books float downstream. (True story involving my sister, Wendy and me). 

My mother’s relationships with my father and her “old ladies book group” friends were enhanced by mutually sharing their love for reading. She also volunteered to read to older adults who were blind and she helped a dear friend through this activity. She had been a homemaker until her children began to leave the nest and was hired as a resource librarian with no prior experience, just a liberal arts degree in English, Home Economics. She even earned a small pension from her seven years of employment.   

Now that I will soon be entering into the realm of retirement, I plan on carrying on my mother’s legacy by volunteering to read to children in the hopes that, if they do not have the role model of an avid reader in their lives, they may have an opportunity to learn to appreciate what the world of books can offer them.