Sarah-Anne Morton (Sammy) Smith of South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, passed away March 22, 2010 after a 31-year battle with cancer. The battle may be over, but it was never lost. Sammy fought, and won, that battle again and again. Sammy filled her life and those of countless others with her extraordinary artistry, wackiness, wisdom and joy – rightly dubbed by many in her life as the true human incarnation of the Energizer Bunny.
Sammy taught elementary school art throughout the Dartmouth Public Schools. She started her career as a teacher in Fall River, Massachusetts and moved to Dartmouth when she and husband Gerald S. (Jerry) Smith settled in Padanaram in 1964, where she began by teaching first grade at the old Bush Street School.
Town residents may remember her career best by her signature end-of-the-year celebration allowing fifth graders to paint her enormous Ford station wagon any which way they wanted. After driving it around town for a day or two, her kids were then charged with a major car wash event. She was renowned for her focus on skills development, self-expression and enjoyment of art for art's sake, and inspired many to carry freethinking and creativity into their adult lives. Pushing the art cart up and down school hallways throughout her illness, she was a daily example of the old saying: “Attitude truly is the paint brush of the mind. It can color any situation.”
Outside of school, Sammy's flair for the beautiful and the ridiculous carried over into many other endeavors. Non-stop projects ranged from painted mooring buoys for Concordia Boatyard, one-of-a-kind safe-sex-in-the-80's condom earrings, gorgeous smocked dresses, hand knit sweaters and quilts, hand-tatted lace, and even a very fashionable prom gown sewn from bed sheets purchased at Building 19. When she lost her hair to chemotherapy, Sammy found that wigs were often too hot and instead, she made fantastic hats to wear or just went without. Her “Bald Is Beautiful” vanity plate said it all.
In keeping with Jerry’s lifelong love of boats, Sammy took to cruising like a fish to water when the family purchased a Marshall 22' catboat in 1973. Always ready with an open cracker barrel, a bowl of dip and any number of instruments, Sammy and Jerry’s cockpit was the site for many a happy gathering.
As a leading member of the Catboat Association, her appreciation of the joys of sailing and cruising shone in everything she did. For the Padanaram Catboat Rendezvous and Regatta each year, she created original screen prints of classic catboat scenes and gave one to each boat. She painted funny t-shirts and crafted innumerable other prizes for winners in every category from “Knottiest Sailor” to “Oh FISH!” Catboat cruisers came from far and near each year as much for her creative touch as for the congeniality of like-minded people.
Her “retirement” from the public schools in 1994 was hardly a retirement at all. When cancer drugs rendered her artist's fingers nearly useless, she began to work in miniature as therapy, launching her into a new and unusual career. Together, she and husband Jerry founded a business, Happiness Is..., handcrafting exquisite miniature porcelain dolls from every walk of life, antique reproduction furniture and virtually everything else imaginable – from worlds of fact and fancy. Always a teacher, Sammy’s family was never surprised to find complete strangers sitting in the kitchen learning how to create wings for a fairy, fire a kiln, or rush the seat of a miniature chair. And by selling her wares around the globe through the Internet, Sammy connected with a whole new world of people with whom she could share humor, support and a love of life.
Sammy will be remembered for her unflappable courage in the face of one of nature's most feared diseases. The life she shared with husband Jerry, who was never fazed by any of their many bouts with illness, was extraordinary for its fun, its love, and most of all, its incredible strength. She was an example of what it means to truly live the one life we are granted, but certainly most of all to those who grew up with her: daughter Anne Morton Smith of Jamaica Plain and son Matthew Sundlie Smith of South Dartmouth.
Born in Boston in 1938 and raised in Westport, Sammy was daughter to Brayton Morton and Louise (Simmons) Morton, and sister to James Madison Morton II, all deceased. In addition to her immediate family, she leaves brother-in-law Charlton Smith and wife Mary Smith; nephew Ian Smith, wife Lynn Curit-Smith and their children Hannah and Zachary; and niece Sarah (Smith) Miller and husband Hans Miller. She also leaves cousins W. Hugh Morton (Diana) and Nancy M. Dawson (Alec) of Westport, as well as other extended family.
Services will be private.
In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 10 Brookline Place West, Floor 6, Brookline, MA 02445.