Anna “Mary” Smiley

(as told by Vernon Work Myers)

My mother Anna Smiley, whom we called “Mary”, had a strong personality. She had a lot of tragedies. I have a brother Marion who was killed out in the South Pacific. He had been drafted into the Navy. Marion was killed in 1945 when the Japanese were using the Kamikaze suicide raiders.

My mother’s surname is Smiley and her mother’s name is Isabelle Work. That’s how I got my middle name Work.

I remember my mother was opposed to having any liquor around in the house. This was during the time of prohibition so people made their own stuff. I remember this one incident — I was about five years old and I went to our neighbor Jim Lutz’s house. I had homebrew which was like beer. I didn’t like it but my father drank a little. My mother was upset.

(as told by Elizabeth Perkins Buchheit)

I would say that Vernon’s mother is one of the smartest people I have ever known. Be sure to record this, for all the young women, wherever you are. She stayed after school and cried and begged the teacher to teach her higher mathematics

VERNON WORK MYERS: She went through eighth grade. That was standard, particularly in the rural school system. There wasn’t even a high school. I think New Castle had a high school.

Today you’d have to get your poker out and make kids sit down and work on math. And this woman was so talented. So talented and so intelligent. I’m sure Vernon’s dad was too. I never got to know him as well.

I think that it is well worth while mentioning that Mary took all the kids to the library on Saturdays. She saw that every person in her family, every child, got a good education. To her, that was paramount. As Vernon used to tell our kids, “Good grades are money in the bank.” Not much money but, you know. People now don’t care whether they go to school or not.

Cecil, Vernon’s brother, and Mary had something they inherited very much alike, although all of ‘em had some of it, and that is they had a great sense of humor. Whatever they were talking about, it was turned into something funny, you know. This was a saving grace for somebody like Mary who did not have the chance to go to school. And yet she was able to somehow bypass this and go into other things.

Mary was a wonderful cook and a very good baker. As they used to say, everything didn’t come in Wonder Bread wrappings in those days. She made wonderful bread and every year she’d make Easter eggs for our kids. They had white centers. Across the way, Mary’s sister owned a place. When they would butcher a pig, they would get a locker in town. Nobody had a freezer.

VERNON WORK MYERS: That was common. You’d get a food locker. You didn’t own it. You rented it.

Mary did all kinds of neat things. Of course they put up all the food for the winter. She had a beautiful garden that Vernon used to work in regularly.

VERNON WORK MYERS: I spaded a little.

Mary worked very, very hard and made everybody a quilt. When Lois was living in the house, it was burglarized. The thieves stole the quilts and the silver.