After a successful show, promoter Linda Kiger Smith often told her husband, “I love making people happy.”
On Thursday, she managed to do that again, posthumously.
Smith, who died of breast cancer in June at age 72, was celebrated by some of her favorite musicians at a memorial in the Madison Hotel.
“The love is here, and the joy is here. And that’s what we choose to deal with, the joy,” said drummer Winard Harper, who performed Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely with his band, Jeli Posse.
With Don Jay Smith, her husband and business partner, Linda helped lead the grassroots drive that saved Morristown’s crumbling Community Theatre, now the sparkling Mayo Performing Arts Center.
They promoted numerous shows at the Bickford Theatre and Saint Elizabeth University. Linda was honored last month at the 10th anniversary of the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival, which the couple helped launch.
“She made a change in Morristown that will live forever,” Mayor Tim Dougherty told a ballroom packed with the Smiths’ friends and family on Thursday.
HANDSTANDS AND CROCUS BULBS
On the job, absorbed in details, Linda Smith was hard to read, the mayor acknowledged. But her daughters revealed other sides of their mother.
An accomplished cook, she zealously guarded her pecan pie recipe. She never went to college, but quoted Shakespeare like a professor. She could twirl a baton, she could nail a handstand.
“The term ‘mama bear’ definitely applied to her. You’d never want to mess with her kids,” said Rebecca Smith-Fuentes, who inherited the prized pie recipe.
Once, in middle school, a teacher was disrespectful. “The next year that I came back to school, that teacher no longer worked there. Thank you, Mom.”
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin. Click/hover on images for captions:
Allison Kiger shared childhood memories, from before her mother met Don. As a struggling single mom, Linda did everything she could to make life “wonderful and special” for Allison and her brother Charles.
Linda taught Allison to read, and to see the beauty in everyday things. To foster an appreciation for food, Linda prepared beef stroganoff and spaghetti carbonara– when hard times could have dictated chicken nuggets.
“We had powdered milk in the cupboard. It was rough. She had lost her job, and we had to go to the unemployment office. And I tell you, it was like a queen had walked in there, and I was part of the court.
“She just brought so much elegance everywhere she went, and so much dignity. It was really an amazing example,” recounted Allison, a concert flutist and Morristown High School alumna.
The musical tributes were coordinated by pianist Jerry Vezza, who rebounded from cancer in 2007 partly thanks to a benefit concert organized by Linda Smith.
“She took the reins as CEO and CFO,” Vezza said. “There was no GoFundMe app. Things were done the old-fashioned way. It was hard work.”
Thursday’s all-star roster included Grover Kemble, who opened with an original gospel tune, Home, and Wonder’s You Are the Sunshine of My Life. He also led the upbeat finale, On the Sunny Side of the Street:
Grand finale: On the Sunny Side of the Street, for Linda Smith:
Rob Paparozzi delivered a soulful Heart and Soul on harmonica. Sax player Dan Levinson played I’ll See You in My Dreams. From Vezza and bassist Hal Slapin, In Your Own Sweet Way.
There were ballads from guitarists Ed Laub and the duo of Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo, who added their lightning-fast crowd-pleaser, Tiko Tiko. Antoinette Montague sang Someone to Watch Over Me, and then got everyone clapping and singing with a foot-stomping Let the Good Times Roll.
Conductor Wayne Walters, who described the Smiths’ contributions to the local arts scene as “irreplaceable,” led an Irish Blessing by the Morris Choral Society. Carolyn Dorfman of Carolyn Dorfman Dance moderated the event, which was sponsored by Joen Ferrari.
Tracing the Smiths’ “shared destiny,” Vezza marveled at Don Smith’s devotion. Through Linda’s grim illness, when the pandemic made nurses scarce, her husband provided round-the-clock care.
“How fortunate are we to witness such love,” Vezza said. “What an inspiration, and what an ideal they have set for us.”
Allison Kiger sent everyone home with crocus bulbs. Each spring, her mom would point out the return of a particular crocus.
“Plant your crocus bulbs,” Allison asked. “Look for what’s special, and the magic in the everyday. Take time with children. And of course, support the arts.”
Linda Smith shunned the spotlight, but loved making audiences happy. Sunny Side of the Street was an appropriate final number, Don Smith said, his voice cracking for an instant.
“Enjoy each other’s company, because it is each one of us that makes all the difference in this world. I love all of you. Thank you.”
