Ferol Yvonne Smith

Ferol Yvonne Smith, of Doylestown PA and Silver Spring MD, passed away on August 13. She was 103 years old.

Ferol was born July 31, 1922, in Winfield, Kansas, the daughter of Lloyd Stratton and Yvonne Bourdon Stratton. Days after her birth, the family moved to Chicago, where Lloyd had taken a new assignment with the Associated Press. When Ferol was three, the family moved to Westchester County, New York. Following Ferol's graduation from Irvington High School in 1941, she attended Grand Central School of Art in New York City where, in 1942, she met instructor William Arthur Smith, who would later become her husband.

In 1945, Ferol joined the New York advertising agency of Geyer, Newell & Ganger, where she

served as art director for national accounts until 1949. Bill and Ferol's romance had blossomed after Bill returned from military service in December 1945, and they married on October 10, 1949, in New York City. The next day, they sailed to France for an extended honeymoon, accompanied by seven-year-old Richard (Rick), Bill's son from a previous marriage, whom Ferol had embraced as her own. They settled close to Ferol's mother's family in Paris, where Bill established a studio and worked on both personal and commercial projects.

The family returned to New York in early 1951 and in July gave birth to their first child, Kim. In 1956, they bought a converted barn near New Hope, PA, and moved to Bucks County. Their second daughter, Kathlin, was born in 1958. Rick continued his education at nearby Solebury School.

As a couple, Bill and Ferol led an unusual life. In 1963, at the behest of Kennedy's State

Department, they made a five month-long cultural diplomacy tour starting in Japan and traveling westward through Asia. There were dozens of stops, many stories to recount, and illustrations in the form of drawings and photographs by the two of them. A decade later, Ferol accompanied Bill on a trip to the Soviet Union during Bill's tenure as president of the International Association of Art, under the aegis of UNESCO.

Both believed in service to social justice and joined the board of Welcome House, an

organization founded by Pearl Buck that promoted the adoption of Asian-American children fathered by American servicemen during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

After Bill's death in April 1989, Ferol remained in the family home until 2003, when she moved to Doylestown, PA. In late 2024, she moved to Silver Spring, MD, to be closer to Kathlin.

For much of her marriage, Ferol had put aside her art practice, but in the late 1980s, she enrolled in printmaking, painting, sculpture, and computer graphics courses at Bucks County Community College and earned her associate degree in Fine Arts in 1992. She especially loved drawing and painting, and from 1990 to 2020 created a vast body of work. She participated in several juried shows, including the Philadelphia Sketch Club and Phillips Mill annual exhibitions, where she received the Olga Drury Memorial Prize for Painting in 2000 and the Nancy Weidner Prize for Painting in 2002.

In her artist's statement, she wrote, "I have had a classic training in art and made the decision long ago to keep figurative aspects in my painting and drawing, trying to find the revealing expression of a still-life, of a person, or in nature. However, in recent years I have let my imagination take over much of my work. It can border on the surreal. The ideas may come from something seen as very ordinary, but which clicks in my mind in an altered state or in the hours before dawn as I suddenly wake up with images to be developed."

Ferol's curiosity and creativity always kept her eager for the next day and helped her recover from medical setbacks in her later life. She treasured time spent with her friends and family, and always appreciated a good party. She was known for her superb cooking, and her love of chocolate was legendary.

Remaining to cherish Ferol's memory are son Rick Smith (Erika Reed) of Alta Loma, California; daughter Kim Smith (John Goodson) of Benicia, California; Kathlin Smith (Bernard Van Leer) of Silver Spring, Maryland; grandson Saunder Smith, of Alta Loma, California; and granddaughter Elise Van Leer, of Atlanta, Georgia.

Preceding Ferol in death are husband William A. Smith and brother Kent Stratton.

A private burial is planned. A memorial service will be held in the spring.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Ferol's memory may be made to NOVA (https://novabucks.org/),

2370 York Rd., Suite B1, Jamison, PA 18929; or World Wildlife Fund (http://worldwildlife.org/), 1250

24th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037.

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