Ron Smith Remembers His Mother's Early Island Years

Frances Smith on on the Arnold Dock.

The accompanying photographs are of my mother, Frances Smith, the longtime East Bluff cottager who died this February at age 93. Frances first came to the Island at six months old in 1913 to spend the summer in the cottage of her grandfather, William Smith. William Smith brought his large family to Mackinac by train each summer by reserving a sleeping car for the family's trip north.

My mother warmly remembered those summers of her youth, walking behind the water wagon to get her feet wet, playing with the neighbor children, having the teenage Francis Doud deliver their groceries.

The Depression brought the sale of their cottage and Frances came to spend her vacations at the Iroquois Hotel and then the Windermere. She told me wonderful stories about Miss Alicia Poole of the Iroquois and the hospitality of Robert and Jeannette Doud.

Frances became a friend of Iola Fuller, the author of "The Loon Feather," and one summer taught Iola how to ride a bike.

The years of World War II also brought her the experience of celebrating the war's end with a spontaneous parade from Grand Hotel to the downtown.

In 1965, my mother again became an East Bluff cottager with her purchase of our present cottage. Because of declining health, 2003 was her last summer on Mackinac. Even after that, however, images of the Island remained before her as she reviewed years of Mackinac Island calendars and family photos.

Some years ago she carefully walked the grounds of the Protestant Cemetery and chose the trees under which she wished to be buried. Her ashes were interred there in May of this year.

- Ron Smith