My Life: Edna Smith Duckworth (The following description of Edna Smith Duckworth's life is in her own words, excerpted from an interview with her that was conducted and then written by Dr. Delores Johnson, Professor of English at Marshall University. The entire interview appeared in the Spring 1993 issue of Ms. Quotes, a quarterly interview by Women's Programs at Marshall University,-JTM)
"I was born in 1910 in this house to Georgianne Rogers Smith and Jacob Rush Smith. I have lived here all my life. It is here on what was called lower 10th Avenue and Bruce Street and Douglas Street that blacks first brought homes and put down permanent roots".
"I'd like my home to be a monument to the contributions which early black settlers made to the building of Huntington. They were C.P. Huntington's workforce. Their wives made 10th Avenue the 'laundry basket' of the white community. They had to be creative to survive. Education was of prime importance to them and their families. They educated their children beyond what the public schools offered them. These men and women were the seed of the generations living today, and my mother and father, though they died young, were part of that. Their siblings and children profited from the roots they put down along with the rest of the community.
"My mother died of the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919, the battle that raged outside the armored battle fields of World War I. In the next few years, my older sister became my surrogate mom, as my father worked to care for us. Just before I turned 13, my father died. In school I did well and graduated at 15 with two scholarships under my arms: one from Bluefield State College and one from Knoxville College in Tennessee. I was too young, however, to live on campus. Life was calling me to move on, so I married the Douglas High School football hero. And soon I was deep into the experience of wife and mother. In 1976 we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.
"I've always had a lot of energy. I always wanted to be doing something; a lot of my interest seemed odd to others, but I'm a curious person and I want to know. During the years that my children, Rush, Jean Marie and Retha were growing up, I was busy in the school with PTA. In the 60's I began working in the community with a program called ABLE, in which we interviewed older men living in urban areas and described how they were living. From that I moved into working with Community Action. It was about that time that I joined the League of Women Voters. In 1975 I became involved in a program called Preventicare, which taught physical fitnes to elderly people.
"I am a charter member of the Carter G. Woodson Committee, were I serve as the secretary. I am almost a founding member of the Huntington Homemakers Club, which began in the 1940's, and I serve as club historian for them. I belong to the Cabell Wayne Historical Society. The Black History of Huntington came about because I'd noted that Black History was never a part of any of the histories written about Huntington, and another member said, "Edna, why don't you write it?"
"When I represented the West Virginia Minority Task Force, Dr. Alan Gould of Marshall University provided me a space in the ivory-towered hall of Old Main. Thus began my love affair with Marshall University. I participated in Elderhostel, helped set up a program for Black senior citizens, worked with the Confederate Library bibliographer and many other people at Marshall. Working with students has been a part of my life for some time.
"I'm just one of the largest growing populations who has been cannonballed into old age, for I certainly didn't dance into it wearing Southern Belle pantaloons. We have much to offer, but we're often shoved off long before we're done with doing.
"When did my love affair with life, living, learning, doing, began? I don't know. I just don't want it to end."
Edna Smith Duckworth was a member of the Young Chapel AME Church. She leaves to continue her legacy of love: Three children Rush Duckworth, Jeanne Thompson and John "Randy" Spotts. A sister Elizabeth Mincey; niece JoAnn Smith; a valued friend, Jennifer Weston and a host of Grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren, other relatives and friends. Services will be 1:00PM Thursday, March 10, at Young Chapel AME Church with the Reverend Reginald Hill, officiating. Burial will follow in Spring Hill Cemetery. Friends may call from Noon til the time of service at the church. The care and services for Mrs. Duckworth have been intrusted to Callender Funeral Home.
