Really, there’s no stopping Eloise Smith, and why would anyone want to do that anyway?
Smith, 93, of Greenwood — mother of four, grandmother of 12 and great-grandmother of 13 — says, “I feel like I am 50.” And, “‘Can’t’ is not in my vocabulary.”
No kidding. She’s always doing something, such as:
• Riding her bicycle 6 miles a day.
• Using her iPhone to communicate with her family.
• Organizing a 75th high school reunion luncheon near Memphis this coming Saturday.
nSinging in the choir at St. John’s United Methodist Church.
nCrocheting scarves that her daughter Georgia Humbarger’s church in Indianola sends to children in the Ukraine.
When Smith heard about the project, she said to herself, “I ought to be able to do that.”
She continued, “I have crocheted over 1,600. I get about 50 in a group, and she (Humbarger) mails them. All they asked for was scarves.”
She’s been happy to assist her daughter’s church in helping children, and she’s glad to still be adding her soprano to the choir at St. John’s.
Smith’s been singing in choirs since she was 15 and a girl growing up in Germantown, Tennessee, outside of Memphis. She studied voice and sang for weddings and civic organizations as well as choirs.
She and her husband, George, met in Memphis and moved to Greenwood in 1955, several years after they married.
He was working for Monroe Calculator Co. when “they scooted him down here to make a branch.” She remembers the drive to her new home. The couple were on U.S. 82, then a two-lane with lots of hilly ups and downs. She kept looking for the flat Delta and thought, “Where on earth is it?”
She soon found out, and as they pulled up to their new home, the Rev. Bill Wallace from St. John’s showed up to invite them to the church, then only 3 months old.
She’s been a choir member there ever since. She also was a secretary for the church for seven years during the 1960s.
She said her husband started with Monroe Calculators in 1943 and “did quite well.” In Greenwood, he set up his sales office on Strong Avenue. He died in 1997, and she now manages the building’s rental and maintenance.
Their daughters grew up in Greenwood, married and moved. Their granddaughter, Kim Pillow, and her family live close to town.
Pillow said the family wanted Smith to have an iPhone a few years ago and went with her to the store to arrange the purchase. Smith liked the idea, Pillow said.
“We text,” Pillow said. “She has Facebook and Instagram.”
Pillow’s also pleased that her grandmother’s avid about bicycling and takes a daily 6-mile bicycle ride.
“Bicycling doesn’t take but about 30 to 35 minutes,” Smith said.
She has pedaled for recreation and health for decades. In recent years, Smith cycled to Money, and once she and her daughter rode the 41-mile trail along Longleaf Trace between Prentiss and Hattiesburg.
Smith acknowledges that bike riding helps her stay healthy, but she also believes she is simply fortunate. “I have been really blessed,” she said.
• Contact Susan Montgomery at 581-7235 or smontgomery@gwcommonwealth.com.
