![]() ![]() Our honeymoon started in Saugatuck, Michigan and proceeded quite thriftily up and around Lake Michigan, We lunched on wedding cake and A&W root beer. The minister proclaimed, “You may salute your bride.” As a member of the Naval Reserve, I all but snapped to attention and said, “request permission to come on board, sir”, only to be reminded to “kiss” the bride. We were married in June of 1961 at the First Brethren Church in Elkhart. I was working in South Bend advertising for a furniture store, and performing in “Carousel”. That was our courtship, a nightly knifing. She was the bed-ridden victim and I her murderer. We were both cast in “Sorry, Wrong Number”. She was fresh from the Pasadena Playhouse and one year touring the country with the Bishop’s Company. in art history until I met Bev again, more attractive than ever. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Bev went west and I went east to Delaware to become a DuPont Winterthur Fellow…a full-time master’s program in Early American Culture and Decorative Arts. She was far too focused on dreams of performing with the Pasadena (California) Playhouse to notice me. I met the love of my life, Beverly Weaver, a real beauty. I also worked at the headquarters of Studebaker and Mercedes-Benz. I walked lines for the gas company looking for leaks. We lived on the cheap at the YMCA with $1.39 breakfasts of one egg, slice of bacon, toast and coffee. joined the staff of a Presbyterian Church. After the graduation fiasco, we moved to South Bend, IN, where O.B. ![]() Most notable was the summer I was in New York City peddling Cepacol mouthwash to Manhattan drug stores and dentists. ![]() The summers I worked as a delivery driver, a dishwasher/bellboy on the Milwaukee Clipper car ferry, and as a deckhand on a Great Lakes freighter. I finished with three minors at Indiana University/South Bend. With family gathered around, I was dutifully handed a blank diploma. I graduated in June of 1957, or so I thought. I joined the national drama and fraternities, served on boards of the Carroll Student Union, Student Christian Association, and played a lot of sheepshead. During rehab, I audited courses at Carroll College, becoming a full-time student in December of 1954 to study history. A serious back injury ended any dreams of the NBA, hobbling me in casts and corsets for the next six months. I attended Lake Forest College (IL) on a basketball scholarship. I was far too shy to be active with girls. I attended Waukesha High School where I was active in basketball, band/ orchestra, choir/madrigals, and drama club. My father gave up insurance for full-time church work, so we moved to Waukesha. We moved to Eau Claire where I attended the campus school of State Teachers College. My mother often altered this to 30 degrees below zero with 18-foot drifts. Outside it was 18 degrees below zero with 30-foot drifts. In his own words: I was born January 3, 1936, in Duluth, Minnesota in the Jewish ward of a Catholic hospital to good Presbyterian parents, Virginia Louise Valiquet and Orvis Brayton Smith. Stuart Balkam Smith, age 86, passed away peacefully on August 4, 2022. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |