Edith Mary Thomas Smart

Edith Thomas was a good friend of Alice Silverman Benioff. They corresponded by letter when Edith became a secretary at the Lick Observatory at Mt. Hamilton. On a visit to Edith, Alice met her future husband, Hugo Benioff. 

Edith Mary Thomas was born in Berlin, Wisconsin Feb 11, 1896. She was the daughter of Davenport Willis Thomas and Margaret A. Heald. She had 5 brothers and 3 sisters. 

She is mentioned a great deal in Alice’s Diary.

We have a number of letters from Edith to Alice before they both were married but it tapers off after that. We also have a lot of letters from Edith to Alice’s father Adolph. 

In 1924, both Alice and Edith went to Europe for a year together. 

Eventually, on 7 April 1928, in Los Angeles, she married Willard Rossiter “Ross” Smart and had one son, George Rossiter Smart (who was born April 10 1931 during the depression and died November 18, 1994). (An interesting observation is that she got married 5 weeks after Alice was married.)

The friendship between Alice and Edith seemed to end after they each got married.  I found one letter from Edith to Alice when they were in their 40’s. Edith was dying of breast cancer. She died 14 Jan 1943 in Los Angeles.

See Google Doc _ Edith Thomas Letter to Adolph Silverman 1928

Edith’s son George Smart never married and died in Ukiah, California. He served in the Navy and worked for the Bureau of Land Management. He was an active lay speaker for the United Methodist Church, treasurer of retired federal employees and a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and was involved with the Ukiah Senior Center. He had a Siamese cat named Charlie. He was a diabetic. He was missing for several weeks before he was found dead, near the highway, and identified with dental records.

Looks like George got a MA degree from Ohio State University, Dept of Geography in 1959. His advisor was G.H. Smith. The title of his thesis was “Supplemental Irrigation in the Humid Eastern United States: A Geographical Appraisal”