Mary Lenora Smith was born in 1906 in Pueblo, Colorado to Leander William Smith and Grace Ella Dever. She wanted to be a milliner but gave up this dream to build, with her husband, Al William Hofer, their homes and life in Richmond and then San Pablo and eventually a successful egg ranch in Lake County, California. She valued education, and the ethics of hard work, total honesty, and total commitment toward those you love. And she accepted into her love those whom she did not know, as fully as those in her immediate family. She instilled into her children and grandchildren those values, and lessons enumerable, that guided and will continue to guide all of her descendants.
Mary was an artistic, creative woman who accepted life as it came and made the best of what was. She was a talented seamstress who could create a piece of clothing after looking at a photo, a fastidious house keeper, a cook of wonderfully tasty food from the fields and garden and a lover of the beauty of nature.
Her grand daughter, Ellen wrote:
"In the earliest years on the ranch, Grandma was given several daffodil bulbs to plant in her yard. In her caring hands the flowers bloomed and flourished. Each year she painstakingly dug up, separated, and transplanted more bulbs, spreading the glorious blooms over an unimaginable amount of area, gracefully blanketing the gradual slopes surrounding their home. Her floral legacy is admired by many each April, even those having the fortune of happening to be passing enroute to some unknown destination; shared even by those who never had the honor of being introduced to its cultivator. . .
Many were moved and amazed by Grandpa’s great strength of character and mind. A man of strong principals, belief, and pride, he had the sort of life-changing ability to open hearts and enlighten souls to the meaning and value of truth, honesty, and goodness. These he often taught by his sincere actions alone. But his great gifts were present and possible largely as a result of Grandma’s unwavering dedication, commitment, and incomparable ability to give of herself under any and all circumstances, perhaps even occasionally at times when her angle of view differed a bit from that of Grandpa’s. Grandma stood steadfastly as the support to the structure, which the two together created – a monument of virtue and goodness. What unimaginable strength she must have possessed, to hold up, to brace, and to embrace under every situation life may present: to have lost an infant son and carried on; to have witnessed yet another grown son, then grown daughter perish – yet at these very times to somehow reach and to give from her bottomless bank of generosity and love to others in distress. Here lies the truth about love. . .
Grandma is there in the scrumptious morsel made from her brownie recipe; she is there in her daffodils that adorn the slopes. And in the water and soil of the lake that the coots swim on; and she is there, within each and everyone of us who were blessed with her presence in our lives and the honor of learning the often painful truth about love.
She will always be with us."
Mary was an artistic, creative woman who accepted life as it came and made the best of what was. She was a talented seamstress who could create a piece of clothing after looking at a photo, a fastidious house keeper, a cook of wonderfully tasty food from the fields and garden and a lover of the beauty of nature.
Her grand daughter, Ellen wrote:
"In the earliest years on the ranch, Grandma was given several daffodil bulbs to plant in her yard. In her caring hands the flowers bloomed and flourished. Each year she painstakingly dug up, separated, and transplanted more bulbs, spreading the glorious blooms over an unimaginable amount of area, gracefully blanketing the gradual slopes surrounding their home. Her floral legacy is admired by many each April, even those having the fortune of happening to be passing enroute to some unknown destination; shared even by those who never had the honor of being introduced to its cultivator. . .
Many were moved and amazed by Grandpa’s great strength of character and mind. A man of strong principals, belief, and pride, he had the sort of life-changing ability to open hearts and enlighten souls to the meaning and value of truth, honesty, and goodness. These he often taught by his sincere actions alone. But his great gifts were present and possible largely as a result of Grandma’s unwavering dedication, commitment, and incomparable ability to give of herself under any and all circumstances, perhaps even occasionally at times when her angle of view differed a bit from that of Grandpa’s. Grandma stood steadfastly as the support to the structure, which the two together created – a monument of virtue and goodness. What unimaginable strength she must have possessed, to hold up, to brace, and to embrace under every situation life may present: to have lost an infant son and carried on; to have witnessed yet another grown son, then grown daughter perish – yet at these very times to somehow reach and to give from her bottomless bank of generosity and love to others in distress. Here lies the truth about love. . .
Grandma is there in the scrumptious morsel made from her brownie recipe; she is there in her daffodils that adorn the slopes. And in the water and soil of the lake that the coots swim on; and she is there, within each and everyone of us who were blessed with her presence in our lives and the honor of learning the often painful truth about love.
She will always be with us."
Mary Lenora Smith was born in 1906 in Pueblo, Colorado to Leander William Smith and Grace Ella Dever. She wanted to be a milliner but gave up this dream to build, with her husband, Al William Hofer, their homes and life in Richmond and then San Pablo and eventually a successful egg ranch in Lake County, California. She valued education, and the ethics of hard work, total honesty, and total commitment toward those you love. And she accepted into her love those whom she did not know, as fully as those in her immediate family. She instilled into her children and grandchildren those values, and lessons enumerable, that guided and will continue to guide all of her descendants.
Mary was an artistic, creative woman who accepted life as it came and made the best of what was. She was a talented seamstress who could create a piece of clothing after looking at a photo, a fastidious house keeper, a cook of wonderfully tasty food from the fields and garden and a lover of the beauty of nature.
Her grand daughter, Ellen wrote:
"In the earliest years on the ranch, Grandma was given several daffodil bulbs to plant in her yard. In her caring hands the flowers bloomed and flourished. Each year she painstakingly dug up, separated, and transplanted more bulbs, spreading the glorious blooms over an unimaginable amount of area, gracefully blanketing the gradual slopes surrounding their home. Her floral legacy is admired by many each April, even those having the fortune of happening to be passing enroute to some unknown destination; shared even by those who never had the honor of being introduced to its cultivator. . .
Many were moved and amazed by Grandpa’s great strength of character and mind. A man of strong principals, belief, and pride, he had the sort of life-changing ability to open hearts and enlighten souls to the meaning and value of truth, honesty, and goodness. These he often taught by his sincere actions alone. But his great gifts were present and possible largely as a result of Grandma’s unwavering dedication, commitment, and incomparable ability to give of herself under any and all circumstances, perhaps even occasionally at times when her angle of view differed a bit from that of Grandpa’s. Grandma stood steadfastly as the support to the structure, which the two together created – a monument of virtue and goodness. What unimaginable strength she must have possessed, to hold up, to brace, and to embrace under every situation life may present: to have lost an infant son and carried on; to have witnessed yet another grown son, then grown daughter perish – yet at these very times to somehow reach and to give from her bottomless bank of generosity and love to others in distress. Here lies the truth about love. . .
Grandma is there in the scrumptious morsel made from her brownie recipe; she is there in her daffodils that adorn the slopes. And in the water and soil of the lake that the coots swim on; and she is there, within each and everyone of us who were blessed with her presence in our lives and the honor of learning the often painful truth about love.
She will always be with us."
Mary was an artistic, creative woman who accepted life as it came and made the best of what was. She was a talented seamstress who could create a piece of clothing after looking at a photo, a fastidious house keeper, a cook of wonderfully tasty food from the fields and garden and a lover of the beauty of nature.
Her grand daughter, Ellen wrote:
"In the earliest years on the ranch, Grandma was given several daffodil bulbs to plant in her yard. In her caring hands the flowers bloomed and flourished. Each year she painstakingly dug up, separated, and transplanted more bulbs, spreading the glorious blooms over an unimaginable amount of area, gracefully blanketing the gradual slopes surrounding their home. Her floral legacy is admired by many each April, even those having the fortune of happening to be passing enroute to some unknown destination; shared even by those who never had the honor of being introduced to its cultivator. . .
Many were moved and amazed by Grandpa’s great strength of character and mind. A man of strong principals, belief, and pride, he had the sort of life-changing ability to open hearts and enlighten souls to the meaning and value of truth, honesty, and goodness. These he often taught by his sincere actions alone. But his great gifts were present and possible largely as a result of Grandma’s unwavering dedication, commitment, and incomparable ability to give of herself under any and all circumstances, perhaps even occasionally at times when her angle of view differed a bit from that of Grandpa’s. Grandma stood steadfastly as the support to the structure, which the two together created – a monument of virtue and goodness. What unimaginable strength she must have possessed, to hold up, to brace, and to embrace under every situation life may present: to have lost an infant son and carried on; to have witnessed yet another grown son, then grown daughter perish – yet at these very times to somehow reach and to give from her bottomless bank of generosity and love to others in distress. Here lies the truth about love. . .
Grandma is there in the scrumptious morsel made from her brownie recipe; she is there in her daffodils that adorn the slopes. And in the water and soil of the lake that the coots swim on; and she is there, within each and everyone of us who were blessed with her presence in our lives and the honor of learning the often painful truth about love.
She will always be with us."
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