There are some who go through life, moving from job to job,
city to city. However, 85-year-old Mabel Smith is what she calls a “stay-putter.”
“Some people are meant to stay around, and others are
meant to stay put,” says Smith, who recently retired from playing the organ
at First Baptist Church of Tioga.
After 61 years, the Pineville native decided it was time to
hand over the reins to someone else.
There are some who go through life, moving from job to job,
city to city. However, 85-year-old Mabel Smith is what she calls a “stay-putter.”
“Some people are meant to stay around, and others are
meant to stay put,” says Smith, who recently retired from playing the organ
at First Baptist Church of Tioga.
After 61 years, the Pineville native decided it was time to
hand over the reins to someone else.
“Two weeks before my 84th birthday, I told my church that
it was time,” Smith says. “I wanted to retire while I still could
cut it. I didnt want them to come to me and say I couldnt cut it.”
First Baptist Church pastor David Cranford says Smith taught
many of the church members music.
“She is the most influential member of the church,”
Cranford adds. “(In addition to music), she taught them about life.”
Although she has been the organist, Smith is quick to point
out that the instrument has not been her only involvement in the Louisiana Baptist
church. She also has directed the childrens choir and taught Sunday School
and discipleship training. In addition, Smith has chaired several church committees.
More evidence that backs up her “stay-putter” attitude
is the fact that Smith taught 40 years at Tioga High School. She retired from
that work in 1975.
Smith says she loved teaching so much that she rarely missed
a day of work, except for a year of maternity leave.
“You establish so many friendships,” Smith says of
the positive aspects of teaching. “Students come back and tell you songs
they can still remember that I taught them.”
Why did Smith choose teaching?
When she was of age to choose a career, Smith says only three
occupations were open to young ladies – secretary, nursing and teaching.
The latter career attracted her the most, she explains.
Education was so important to Smith that she received not only
a bachelors degree in piano from Louisiana College in Pineville, but she
also earned a masters degree in music from Northwestern University in
Evanston, Ill., during the summer months. She had explored such schools as the
University of California at Los Angeles, but Smith says Northwesterns
public school program was strong.
Smith taught for many years in the 12-grade system, which she
says was excellent for recruiting music students because she knew which children
would be promising at the first grade. “Some days I wouldnt take
lunch or recess, so I could get all of the grades in,” notes Smith, who
traveled from classroom to classroom in order to teach every grade she could.
A 1962 article in the Alexandria Town Talk said Smith “believes
every child has the right to learn about, to participate in and to have music
whether he has been blessed with outstanding musical talent or not …
“Mrs. Smith possesses the ability to make them all want
to sing.”
In addition to being named one of the Town Talks “Women
of the Century,” Smith has received numerous other awards through the years.
These include receiving the Matinee Musical Club Award in 1953-54, being named
a LC Distinguished Alumni in 1977 and earning induction into the Louisiana Music
Educators Association Hall of Fame in 1999.
In addition, First Baptist Church of Tioga members installed
a plaque in the sanctuary in 1991 to honor her 50th anniversary as the organist.
Ask Smith about these awards, and she will react humbly. The
center of attention is something Smith does not bask in, Cranford explains.
“She does not like the limelight and has had pretty good
doses of it during the past few months,” he says.
Besides playing the organ and teaching, another part of Smiths
“stay-putter” attitude is the fact that she has lived in the same
house since she was a one-year-old, except for the short time she spent at the
teachers cottage next to Tioga High School. All unmarried teachers were
forced to live there during those days.
These days, she cares for her husband, Thomas, an avid hunter
and fisherman who is as active as his wife.
Although Smiths full-time duties are over as the organist,
she still plays piano at nursing homes and for three Sunday School classes on
Sunday mornings.
“You get involved in all of these things and want to help make it go,”
Smith says. “Whatever the church wanted me to do, Ive done it. I
helped whatever is at hand.”