Notes for MARY LATIUM EMMONS SMITH:

Daughter of Wilson Thomas and Amy Lillian (Penrose) Emmons.
Born: June 12, 1902 in What Cheer, Keokuk County, Iowa.
Died: September 18, 1989 in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina.
Education: 1916-1918 - Scattergood Friends School, West Branch, Iowa
1919 - Graduated Olney Friends School, West Branch, Iowa.
Census: April 15, 1930 - Prairie Township, Keokuk County, Iowa.
Last Residence: Greensboro, Guilford, North Carolina.
Married: Irving James Smith June 17, 1932 in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina.

Obituary:
Mary Emmons Smith was born on 12 June, 1902, near What Cheer, Iowa and died at Friends Homes in Greensboro, North Carolina in 18 September, 1989. When she was two years old, her parents--Wilson Thomas and Amy Penrose Emmons--moved to the house (also near What Cheer) where she would grow up and later spend most of her married life.

She and her four siblings, Chester, Ardith, Russell and Alton, attended Coal Creek Friends School, spent three years at Scattergood Friends School near West Branch, Iowa and finished with a year at Olney Friends School in Barnesville, Ohio. She and her sister Ardith then alternated teaching and caring for their mother with time at William Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa. They and their brother Russell graduated there on the same day in 1931.

Mary and Irving Smith met while both were serving on the Olney teaching staff in 1926. After a long and spirited correspondence they were married in 1932. They spent a year in Columbus, Ohio, then moved to the Iowa farm near What Cheer where they lived and brought up their family. During the later years they were resident caretakers in Quaker Meetinghouses in Honolulu and Denver. They spent part of a year traveling and speaking for the Fiends Committee on National Legislation. Mary and Irving had four children: Carolyn Treadway of Tecumseh, Missouri; Margaret Lacey of Richmond, Indiana; Steve Smith of Claremont, California; and Evelyn Mavromichalis of Lakewood, Ohio, as well as ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Mary was an avid gardener. She made the world's best applesauce. She knew how to use a tractor and a team of horses, and as a young woman she husked a good deal of corn. She had a gift for home repairs and house plants. She was a graceful ice skater and a vigorous hiker, still able at age 85 to outdistance her husband and children. During her years at Friends Homes she took up painting with considerable success. She was a wonderfully sweet soul and very fine company.