“My weekend was so short, that by the time I walked from my bedroom to the kitchen, it was over.

Rosalie Allen Smith

Rosalie Allen Smith was a wonderful person who raised seven children—all boys—in the midst of challenging times and during the war, World War II. She was a saver, an inventor and—to anyone who knew her—a dancer.

She loved to save and always told me to, “Pay yourself first.” That was how she was able to take care of herself, after her divorce from James (“Jimmy”) Lee Smith and how she was able to get around DC, while never owning a car a day in her life—she was resourceful.

Rosalie was also known to break out doing the Charleston—moving forward with her right foot and backward with her left—to almost any kind of music, anywhere. In grocery stores, her living room—in public or in private—she would dance. She also had wonderful sayings that revealed the witty nature of her childhood and, undoubtedly, the influence of her mother and the South:

“I get up before the rooster puts his shoes on.”

“You think you’re looking cute, but you’re looking curious.”

“I’d rather drink muddy water and sleep in a hollow log.”

“My weekend was so short, that by the time I walked from my bedroom to the kitchen, it was over.”