Category: Emily

A year before she died, I asked my mom, Dorothy Smith Stenstedt, to tell me about a few old Smith photos, and I wrote down what she told me. I’m not sure right now where the photos are! But I want to record the things she said. Here goes.

She said that Honey (Bert L. Smith, Jr.) was born in Elko, Nevada, and that his father was in “banking and various enterprises.” This seems to mean, in part, that Bert Sr. invested in mining operations … sometimes luckily, sometimes not. At some point, the family lived in Oakland, yes, and then my mom mentioned “Aunt Beulah’s vase.” It was important enough that I wrote it down. Beulah was Honey’s mother’s sister. If only we could ask Dorothy which vase this was, and why it was worth mentioning!

Onwards.

Mormor (Emily Strother Smith) was born in Plano, Texas, and soon moved to Dallas. Honey’s family moved to Dallas when he was in high school, and they met as juniors at Oak Cliff High School (now W. H. Adamson High School). Bert had a motorcycle with a sidecar! No wonder Emily fell in love with this “California Yankee,” as Emily’s father called him—this “diamond in the rough,” as Emily’s mother called him. After high school, Honey returned to California for college at UC Davis, which at that time was called the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture, an extension of UC Berkeley. His education prepared him for his career at the Farm Bureau, where he counseled local farmers on best practices and available resources.

During these college years, Emily lived at home in Dallas and attended Southern Methodist University, driving a Model-T Ford to school, and playing with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. At some point, she served as the first-chair violinist. Given that Bert and Emily had a long-distance relationship for a few years, I would love to see the letters they might have written.

Apparently
The word apparently is important in my reporting of what Dorothy said that others said that others said. After Honey’s father died in 1922, Honey’s mother split her time between Honey and Honey’s sister Margaret (whom he always referred to as “My Sister Margaret”). Apparently, Margaret said “I don’t want our mother to work so hard when she’s at your house,” which made my grandmother Emily very angry, because apparently, there was no stopping Grandmother Smith from helping with things.

These are my only notes from that interview with my mother. It is incomplete, as is so much when a person dies. If she suddenly reappeared from the other side of the veil, I wouldn’t start by asking about Aunt Beulah’s vase. But we might get to it eventually.