Piedmont Profile: Who is Addie Smith?
Deadra Miller, online editor
When anyone walks into the south entrance of PVCC they see Addie Smith, the receptionist responding to the many phone calls received there.
As a military wife, she has traveled the world, retired, raised four children, and watched each of them walk through PVCC at one point in time. Smith was also a beauty queen in her younger days. Smith was voted Mrs. Laurel Maryland in 1957 by fellow military wives on Fort Meade Army Base. At that time, Smith’s husband was an E-9 (Sergeant Major) in the United States Army.
After she won the title, her husband received orders to report to Fort Gordon, Georgia, his new duty station. While in Georgia, Smith attended dental school and graduated with a dental assistant title associated with the Red Cross.
Smith has also traveled the world; she has been to France, Germany, Belgium, England and Italy. Traveling to these countries would not have been possible without the help of her husband Sgt. Major James Edward Smith.
Right before Smith’s husband retired out of the Army, he was selected for the Warrant Officer list (a promotion list for Warrant Officer across all branches of the military,) but he chose retirement in 1968.
After retirement, J. Smith and his family moved to Charlottesville so he could attend UVA for Radiology; he then received his degree and worked under the supervision of Dr. Keats. While J. Smith was working at and attending UVA, Mrs. Smith was working at K-Mart. She worked there until 1996 as a front end manager, payroll manager, and human resources manager.
Now, Smith watches her grandchildren and great grandchildren walk the halls of PVCC. One of Smiths’ granddaughters will be graduating this spring with honors and went to Orlando, Florida, with Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) a few weeks ago.
Her motivation is seeing all of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren attend PVCC. She is a family woman that will help every one of them without a second thought. Please stop by greet Addie Smith or have a small chat with her; one may learn something about the older generation.
