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After 24 years in education, Ann Smith is ready for a new chapter in life |
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Front Page -
Front Page Story
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Written by Larry McGuire
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Monday, 29 June 2009 |
Ann Smith sits in her former office at SS.C.D. elementary school. (Photo by Larry McGuire/The Punxsutawney Spirit)
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Ss. Cosmas & Damian Roman Catholic School and Church bid farewell Friday to Ann Smith, who retired as the school's principal after 24 years of service.
As witnessed by the surprise farewell party that was held in her honor at the end of the school year, she will be missed.
Smith said aside from her church and school family, her immediate family has always been most important to her.
"Jeff, our oldest son, lives in Florida, and he is a financial analyst for Jardon," she said. "He has lived there for several years, and loves the climate because he's an avid golfer."
Smith said her daughter Shelly is married to Tom Young and has two sons — Alex and Andrew — who attend SS.C.D School. The Youngs are currently expecting twins.
"Our youngest son, Steve, lives here and works in the family business — Smith Hauling, in Oliveberg — and he and his wife Kristie have one son, Zachary, and are also expecting a child in the fall," Smith said. "Shelly works there, too, and runs the office, so it continues to be a family-run business.
"All of the children that are coming are all going to be girls," she said. "We are doubling our grandkids, and we will have three girls to go with the three boys that we already have."
Ann was not always a principal. She spent a year-and-a-half working at Smith Hauling with her husband Dick and decided it wasn't the business she wanted to be involved in.
"It was a good learning experience. It helped me understand Dick's work a little better," she said. "I always understood the hours that he put in, but I understood the business more in depth because of my time there."
Smith was at the Punxsutawney Area Chamber of Commerce for a year-and-a-half, and presided over moving the office from the old T.W. Phillips office on South Gilpin to Mahoning Street, where the Framing Gallery is currently located.
"I succeeded Bill Null, who had been there a number of years," she said. "It was a good experience because I was always interested in the community. Obviously, it was very community-oriented, and I got to meet and talk with a lot of people who were visiting town, or called about information concerning Groundhog Day. It was a fun thing."
Smith said her first true love was always education.
"That's because my parents, Frank and Peg Shaw (who are deceased) were both educators, and taught in the Punxsutawney Area School District for over 30 years," Smith said. "My father died in 1995 and my mother in 1996. They were just shy of being married 50 years."
Smith said education was genetic because she had education in her blood.
"It was destined that I would be involved in education," Smith said. "My parents taught in the old junior high complex which is now the community center. My dad taught in the Jackson building and my mom the old Jefferson Street School building where the housing authority's social center is located."
Smith graduated from Punxsy Area High School in 1965. She went on to graduate from St. Francis College in 1969 with a degree in social studies.
She began her teaching career in Montgomery County, Maryland, while her husband Dick attended graduate school at American University in Washington after being in the military.
The two got married in January of 1971.
"We didn't date in high school. We started dating a year after I graduated from Punxsy," she said. "I was seeing somebody else, and then I started going out with him. I've been going out with him ever since, which is a good thing."
After moving back to Punxsy, their oldest son Jeff was born in 1972.
"My kids grew up here, and it was wonderful because both sets of grandparents lived here too," she said. "It was wonderful for the kids to really know their grandparents, and both sets really loved the kids."
Msgr. Joseph Riccardo, pastor of SS.C.D. Church, said he came to the church two years after Smith arrived.
"It didn't take very long at all before we began a fruitful and lasting relationship," he said. "Ann is a very gentle, kind and compassionate individual, and that became very clear from the get-go.
"She is devoted to children and Catholic education," he said. "That was the foundation that we began and built our relationship on and throughout the years it has served us very well.
"I had total and complete trust in her ability to administer the school," Riccardo said. "Along the way, we would collaborate on just about everything.
"There's always a time — in a position of authority — where there are moments of frustration and disappointment," he said. "I don't think that ever daunted her enthusiasm, sense of compassion and care for the children under her charge. She'll be missed," Riccardo said.
Smith added she will always have a soft spot for Catholic school.
"I love Catholic school," she said.
"My heart will always be here. My mom attended school here. I attended school here. My kids went here, and now my grandchildren are attending here, so I have a vested interest in this school."
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 30 June 2009 )
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