By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – As the old expression goes, “There’s a first time for everything,” and while Glenna Johnson Smith has had many wonderful experiences in her life, that adage still holds true. Last Friday night was one of those firsts as the 90-year-old Presque Isle resident will sign copies of her first-ever book, “Old Maine Woman: Stories from the Coast to The County.”
Republican photo/Barb Scott
Patty Carson looks on as Glenna Johnson Smith, of Presque Isle, autographs a copy of her recently published book, “Old Maine Woman: Stories from the Coast to The County”. The 90-year-old author held a very successful book signing at Mr. Paperback in Caribou on Nov. 13.
“It’s pretty exciting when you’re 90 years old,” said the former teacher of the book launch. “I’m way out of my comfort zone on all of this. I don’t know what to expect; book singings are something I’ve never done. I’m just excited. It’s hard to believe. It’s very heart-warming when people call and say they want a book, and even more surprising when they want it signed.”
Smith was born and raised in the Hancock County town of Ashville, and has lived in Aroostook County for more than six decades. Her humorous, insightful, and poignant essays on the everyday surprises and wonders of life appear regularly in Echoes magazine under the title “Old County Woman.”
“Much of what’s in the book has appeared in Echoes, but there are a few new pieces in there, as well as some photographs,” she said. “Some of it is essays and some is fiction. Some of it is serious and some of it gets a little laugh. It’s awfully important to me that people laugh. The worse times get, the more we need to laugh.”
Topics range from what it was like growing up in a small-town post office, to her experiences as a first-year teacher, to what happens when the telephone repairman comes to call at her cluttered house.
While some might find the title “Old Maine Woman” disrespectful, Smith finds it an appropriate name.
“I don’t mind being called an old woman,” she said. “I think some of these phrases like ‘senior citizens’ are a bit too fancy … like putting a hat on a horse. ‘Old woman’ is a good, honest description. My column in Echoes is ‘Old County Woman,’ so the publishers picked ‘Old Maine Woman’ for the book. I think it’s fitting.”
Smith started writing as a child. To her – and her father – it was a peaceful process.
“My father was a very quiet man and he didn’t want any noise in the house and I was an only child, so I’d sit and write and draw and do things that didn’t make a sound. I always liked writing, but just did it for myself,” she said. “I took a course from Nan Amodeo at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and we were talking about writing poetry, and she suggested I send some poems to ‘Maine Speaks: An Anthology of Maine Writers.’ I said, ‘They wouldn’t want anything that I wrote,’ but she said I’d just be out a postage stamp. It turns out they put two of my poems in their book and I was most amazed and pleased that that had happened.”
Smith has also been published in Yankee magazine, “Old Women’s Wisdom,” and a number of other anthologies.
In addition, she has written seven plays, all of which have been performed in Maine high schools and two making it to state competitions. Smith has won numerous awards for her work and contributions, including Presque Isle Citizen of the Year and received an honorary doctorate from UMPI.
Hundreds of students passed through Smith’s classroom at Presque Isle High School over the years as she taught English from 1958 until her retirement – at age 70 – in 1990.
“It was awfully important to me when I was a teacher to try to have my students have faith in themselves because I never had any faith in myself when I was their age,” she said. “I was brought up in a time when women didn’t have any self-confidence. Women were inferior to men and the whole nine yards, but anything we really want to do we can probably do if we plan … within reason. I’m never going to be an astronaut or a dancer. An awful lot of people have abilities they don’t dare to try to use and I keep preaching that little message.
“Another thing which I hope comes out in my book is that we waste a lot of time if we’re saying, ‘Oh, I can’t wait until …’ or ‘If only we were back in the good, old days,’” said Smith. “The only thing we have to work with is today and if we waste today, that’s a sad thing. Every day has its good moments if we look for them. I have to be an optimist about human beings. We – us everyday people – are tough and we can do things … like write a book.”
Smith signed copies of her book Nov. 12 at the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library in Presque Isle, and on Nov. 13 at Mr. Paperback in Caribou. The book is published by Islandport Press of Yarmouth. The softcover book sells for $16.95.
