Mae W. Smith, 100

Longtime River Road Resident

Oct 27, 1917 — Aug 12, 2018

Mae W. Smith, who lived for 25 years on Millstone River Road (Rt. 533), died on August 12 in an assisted living facility in Easton, MD, the town where she had lived since 1972. Her son, Richard D. Smith of Rocky Hill, was by her side.

Mae was born on October 27, 1917, near High Bridge, the daughter of Anthony Woodhouse and Mary Ely Woodhouse. In 1947, she married Carroll D. Smith, Jr., the fourth-generation president of a family pharmaceutical company. They built a home on River Road (now the Bed & Biscuit Inn dog boarding center). In 1963, they built the neighboring home, known locally as “the house with the greenhouse” (until recently the home and office of urban planner and designer Anton Nelessen).

She was active in the Griggstown Reformed Church, as a volunteer in the Montgomery Elementary School library, and the Princeton Red Cross.

In 1972, Mr. and Mrs. Smith retired to the Maryland Eastern Shore, where she was a volunteer in the Easton Medical Center gift shop. Mr. Smith died in 1979.

Mae celebrated her 100th birthday with her son Richard, her niece Susan Woodhouse Nord of Arizona, and numerous friends and neighbors from both Easton and Montgomery. The children from her husband’s first marriage looked on her as a beloved stepmother, as did their children and grandchildren. Many of them came to share the 100th birthday of the woman they fondly called “G.G. Mae.”

She liked to say, “You get what you give.” It was because of her giving so much, from her genuine smile to whatever help was needed, that she was greeted back with such love by those who knew her. She had the common touch with all, from the humble to the high-placed.

Honoring Mae’s longtime directive, her body was donated to the Maryland Anatomy board for the medical student instruction at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. There was therefore no funeral, and the reunion occasioned by her 100th birthday serves well as both her memorial service and celebration of her life.

Her ashes will be returned to her son Richard, who will have them interred with her parents and other family members in their cemetery plot in Glen Gardner. ■