Across the River
A GIFT TO THE ST. JAMES HIGH ARCHIVES: Last week I received from Dixie Smith Guitreau a box of the personal collection of her mother, Mabel Poirier Smith. Mabel was born in Burton on February 18, 1914, and died March 11, 2015, at 101 years old. Mabel graduated from St. James High School on Friday, June 8, 1934. She attended the wooden frame school when the highest level was 11th grade. Their ceremony began at 8 p.m. The valedictory address was delivered by Lloyd Cagnolatti and George Meade presented the diplomas. Also in the box were papers from Mabel’s husband, James Franklin Smith, and her sister, Clemence Poirier Barrios, as well as certificates and little story booklets with precious covers of textured papers and handwritten pages. The contents of the box are more than 90 years old and still very well preserved. There also was a collection of certificates, some dating back to 1928. My directions from Dixie were to take the box to St. James High School and have it added to the Smith family archive there. To honor her directions, I met with St. James High Assistant Principal Meeka Dennis and handed over the box of treasures to her.
