ROSES FOR THE LIVING

 

                                                     Mrs. Anna J. Smith

                                              (transcribed by: L. Johnson)

 

     Mrs. Anna J. Smith was born in Austria near Vienna.  At an early age she left home and

went to Vienna where she was employed about 17 years.  In 1902 she came to America and

resided in New York City.  In 1903 she married Karl Schmitt of Weidman, and in that year

she came to Weidman to reside.

     Five years later Mr. Smith died leaving two sons, George and Frank, four and two years

old.  Mrs. Smith found herself in a strange country, speaking her mother tongue, and with-

out near relatives, but having during that time made many friends.

     At this time she looked longingly back to her home in Austria, but as her husband’s

request was for her to remain in this country and rear their sons, and being a courageous

and resourceful woman, she took up the problem of being a mother and father.

     She has given them a business and art education.  George is now employed by the Bendix

Corporation in Detroit, and Frank has taught Industrial Arts in Detroit for ten years.

     Mrs. Smith is admired by all who know her as a noble character, which combined with

habits of industry and a genial disposition, make her an example of true and lovely woman-

hood.  She is always found helping in all community enterprises, and is a member of the

Methodist Ladies Aid and is an attendant at the Methodist Church.  In a familiar setting, she

is pictured above in her garden.

     Still in the country and home to which she came as a bride, she dreams of her girlhood

days in Vienna, glad that she may spend the rest of her days in peace here among her friends

and neighbors and enjoy her garden and flowers.