Melda Perry “Sally” Smith, born June 24, 1930 at University Hospitals, Cleveland, Ohio, passed away peacefully in Reinberger Court on Jan. 27, 2022.

A resident of Reinberger since January of 2020, Sally died in the loving presence of her husband of over 63 years, James A. Smith, a relatively recent resident of Judson Park.

Sally was the loving mother of Hugh B. Smith (Will Sickmeier) and Sarah Louise Smith Harvey, both graduates of Chagrin Falls High School, and the proud grandmother of Alexander J. Harvey, a sophomore in the pre-engineering program of the University of Florida, Gainesville campus.

In 1930, Sally was born the youngest child of George William and Melda Arthurholt Perry of Lake Lucerne, near Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Sally’s father, an attorney with the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, died of pneumonia in 1935. He had been gassed on the battlefields of France during World War I as an ambulance driver with University Hospital’s heralded “Crile Unit.” Because of weakened lungs, he passed away prematurely when infected by the virus.

After Sally’s father’s death, her mother (“Nana”) moved the family (grandmother Amelda, her older siblings Marly and George, and “Queenie,” the family scotty) to a small Euclid, Ohio community facing Lake Erie known as “Wickliffe Club.” After Sally completed 10th grade, her mother withdrew Sally from school and took Sally, Marly and George to Mexico. (Nana had read that you could live there for $2 a day.) After a few months of wondrous adventures, Nana decided to return to the United States, and they settled in Shaker Heights. Having missed her junior year, Sally became a student at Shaker Heights High School, which designed a special curriculum to compress two years of study into one. Sally graduated on schedule in 1948.

While at Shaker, her English teacher entered one of Sally’s stories in the Atlantic Monthly’s nationwide high school creative writing contest. The magazine chose Sally’s entry, “My Childhood is a Sphere Wherein Ten Thousand Heavenly Joys Appear,” as one of thirteen nationwide finalists.

In the fall of 1948, Sally enrolled in Flora Stone Mather, the Women’s College of Western Reserve University. Sally graduated from Mather in three years, with a dual major in art history and home economics. Soon thereafter, she began working for Time agazine in downtown Cleveland.

In 1954, Sally joined the United States Information Agency (best known for the Voice of America), which dispatched Sally to the Philippines. Sally was assigned to Cultural Affairs, and had the enviable duty (among many other not so enviable duties) of escorting U.S. artists, writers and celebrities around the Manila lecture circuit. Those she shepherded included William Faulkner (Sally was charged with keeping him out of trouble), the concert cellist Gregor Piatigorsky (who, when leaving Manila, told the ambassador - “Please give my regards to Miss Perry”) and Jesse Owens (the track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics).

Sally traveled extensively around the Philippines, as well as to Angkor Wat, Hong Kong and Tokyo, collecting art, fabrics and priceless experiences. At the conclusion of her tour, Sally headed westward on her way to the United States, visiting Delhi (with a side trip to see the Taj Mahal), Istanbul, Athens and Rome.

Upon her return, Sally continued working for the Information Agency in Washington, D.C., and was soon assigned to the artist, Paul Child. At that time, Paul’s wife, Julia, was tinkering with recipes for her first cookbook. Julia would come to the Quonset hut which housed Paul’s office and rap on the window. Sally would roll down the window and accept the bag of fresh groceries which Julia passed through to give to Paul to bring home that night. After this went on for some time, Sally said “It must be wonderful to have such fine cuisine night after night.” Paul humorously responded “How many different versions of Boeuf Bourguignon can you really enjoy in one week?”

In January, 1959, Jim married the girl of his dreams. Their wedding occurred in Georgetown, D.C., and the couple immediately took up residence in Manhattan, where Jim was enrolled in Columbia Law School. Sally soon found a job with the Madison Avenue advertising firm, Cunningham & Walsh.

After graduating from Columbia Law School in 1961, Jim and Sally returned to Cleveland, where Jim joined the law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. In the fall of that year, they bought what had been a farm house on Bell Street in Chagrin Falls. For over 58 years they lived in four different neighborhoods in their Village, the last, at 52 West Summit Street since 1976.

Jim retired as partner of SS&D in the 1990s, which gave the couple the time to spend their summers in their beloved Appalachee Shores community in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Their home was perched on a boulder overlooking Linekin Bay, only a few precarious steps away from their dock, float and Boston Whaler. After Jim’s retirement, the couple traveled throughout the United States, regularly attended the Shakespeare and Shaw Festivals in Canada, visited and drove around England several times, and went on walking tours in France, Portugal and Italy.

For many years, Sally was room mother for Hugh and Sarah’s Lewis Sands school classes, and den mother and scout leader when Sarah was in Girl Scouts. Sally was a long-time member of at least two Chagrin Valley quilting groups, and officer of the Early Morning Garden Club (which, for years, planted and nurtured flowers around Village Hall, the police station, the top of the stairs to the waterfall, and throughout the village). Jim and Sally have been members of the Federated Church in Chagrin Falls since 1961.

Sally was a long-time member of the Junior League of Cleveland, as well as all the cultural institutions in University Circle. Sally and Jim were proud to have been enthusiastic patrons of the Cleveland Institute of Music, and faithful subscribers to and patrons of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Sally will be remembered by all who knew her as a vivacious, creative and caring person who treated all fellow humans with love and respect.

Interment will occur at Evergreen Hill Cemetery, Chagrin Falls, in a private service. A service and celebration of Sally’s life will be held at the Federated Church in Chagrin Falls at a date, probably June, to be announced.

For those who wish, the family suggests contributions to the Alzheimer’s Assn., 23215 Commerce Park, Suite 300, Beachwood, OH 44122, or to the Cleveland Orchestra. Please sign Tribute Wall at: murphyfamilyfuneralhome.com