Changing Hands

“Little by little, I told my friends and eventually told my boss and coworkers,” she said. “Then I was recommended to an exerciseprogram that is specially designed for Parkinson’s patients. That was the best thing for me both physically, socially and emotionally.”

Now, twice a week she dons her pink boxing gloves and participates in explosive movement through boxing, core strength and balance. This non-athlete has excelled so much that her husband (John Smeallie ’79) “sleeps with one eye open,” she joked. But her artwork was a different story. How would she be able to continue to create art when she was losing control of her dominant right hand?

Art had been the constant throughout her life. She had earned a living by using her talent in a variety of ways. From making signs and window displays at Clothing Junction in Oswego her senior year of college, to becoming a fashion illustrator for a department store, to being a cartographer for a power company to teaching art in both public and private schools, she could depend on her art to support her financially and spiritually.

John Smeallie said throughout their 43 years of marriage that no matter where they lived they always found a space to create for Mary to do her art—whether it was in the den or small space outside of the kitchen.

“Whatever apartment we had, we found a spot because she had this drive within her that she had to do her art,” John said.

Mary Smeallie said in those dark moments when she started to question her ability to continue making art, she drew inspiration from her father and her grandmother who she described as being “amazing people” who possessed “a true Irish tenacity.”