My sister, Julia Cecilia Smith, was an inspiration to me, my
family and her many friends. She passed away this week after a
nine-year battle against breast cancer. Julia was easily the most
gifted and talented of my parents’ seven children. She was a
writer, a poet, a singer, an actress and songwriter. She left
behind her loving husband of 15 years Colin and her three young
children; Lily, Irene and Colette.
My sister, Julia Cecilia Smith, was an inspiration to me, my family and her many friends. She passed away this week after a nine-year battle against breast cancer. Julia was easily the most gifted and talented of my parents’ seven children. She was a writer, a poet, a singer, an actress and songwriter. She left behind her loving husband of 15 years Colin and her three young children; Lily, Irene and Colette.
When I was 18, Julia noticed that I had some talent for playing the piano. Though she didn’t make much money then, she knew a cabaret pianist with whom she had performed at a nightclub and paid for me to take piano lessons. After a few lessons, the piano teacher wisely told me that I would probably never learn to read music (and he was correct) because I simply played by ear and/or would copy his chord movements on the keyboard. He did, however, teach me the three magic chords upon which most Rock and Roll or Rhythm and Blues songs are based and sent me on my way.
And it was Julia who inspired me in part to start the San Benito Stage Company. Julia was very involved in theater throughout her life and wrote as a theater critic for the Metro weekly newspaper for several years in the ’80’s. Much of my motivation for developing the nascent community theater group was the rapport and approval I derived from my big sister Julia.
During one of her trips to Broadway to attend some of the musicals she loved, Julia got to meet her idol Bernadette Peters backstage after a performance of Annie Get Your Gun. This was a highlight of her life and a dream come true thanks to my sister Marguerite who made the arrangements.
The tragedy of Julia’s illness began during the final trimester of her third pregnancy. Doctors discovered a virulent form of breast cancer which they wanted to aggressively treat as early as possible. This meant making a choice of terminating the pregnancy or risk the spread of the disease. Choosing an abortion was simply unacceptable. Ultimately, she chose the life of her child and to take her own chances.
Finally, Julia left behind a trace of her artistic talent with 30 poems that she wrote for you, the general public, to peruse and appreciate. The poems are an eclectic collection of life experience and introspection. Many of them chronicle the conversion of her early party girl years to that of a loving mother whose will to persevere and live as long as possible for her husband and daughters was strengthened by her faith in God.
I would like to share with you one of her poems that she wrote for her youngest daughter Colette.
One Look At You
What did I know about sorrow,
And what had I learned about love?
What did I know about God in his heaven,
And what did I know much else of?
You came to me under a shadow,
Or some would say under a cloud;
You never asked much, just a mother’s own touch,
And you never cried hard or cried loud.
On the day you were born, when they left us alone,
Why I brought you right into my bed,
I looked into your eyes, kissed you over and over
And these are the words that I said:
Forgive me for thinking that two was enough,
Forgive me for wishing you gone,
One look at you here in my arms and I know
That together is where we belong.
Now you make every morning a sunrise,
And you make every nightfall a thrill,
Though the world’s full of children, there’s no one
like you,
Never has been and there never will.
If an angel of God came and told me
I could have my life back like before
But I couldn’t have you, do you know what I’d do?
I would send him back out through the door.
Yes, I know I’ve made thousands of dreadful mistakes
As a mother and also as wife;
But I tell you the truth, it is you and your sisters
Who anchor me here in this life.
If you have a few moments, I know you will appreciate reading Julia’s poetry at: www.juliebird.net.
Mike Smith lives in Hollister and is interested in public policy, music and the arts. He works in the water utility industry in Salinas.
