Smith works to keep historical Delphos alive

Tri-county Woman of 2008

By Mike Ford, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Tuesday, January 1, 2008 (2 years, 2 months ago)
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By MIKE FORD
The Delphos Herald

smith.jpgDELPHOS — The 2008 Tri-county Woman of the Year is known for such projects as the Delphos Rotary Club Senior Walking Tour and her contribution to downtown development. She traces these and her other volunteer efforts back to the Phi Delta Sorority’s early days of giving shoes and boots to those in need.
JoAn Smith, 66, was raised in the Elida area and moved to Delphos in 1963, the same year she married her husband, Larry. She worked at the Metropolitan Bank in Lima and developed a friendship with a co-worker from Delphos.
“Marge Hageman invited me to join the sorority because she said if I was going to be a Delphos resident, I needed to be involved,” she said.
Smith said the group’s projects drew her to working to accomplish worthwhile goals; something she enjoyed. As she built more friendships, she branched out by being a charter member of the Delphos Optimist Club.
“I was not an officer when we started. Early on, our emphasis was meeting the requirements to be an Optimist club but now, we do the Pancake Breakfast and the Fourth of July Bingo. Those are the two big projects I help with. So, after I joined the sorority, I became an Optimist and later, I joined the Rotary,” she said.
Smith resigned from the bank to focus on her family when the first of her two daughters, Denise, was born. She re-entered the work force in 1972 after purchasing the local H&R Block franchise. Her youngest daughter, Sarah, was born later.
Smith’s volunteerism was not placed on hold while she focused on motherhood.
“I joined the Rotary because it’s a visible service club. I wanted to be around the members because they have such positive attitudes,” she said.
Smith has held every office in the club’s leadership. Her most visible project gathers high school seniors from Jefferson and St. John’s high schools to educate them on the history of buildings on and around Main Street. The tour highlights one special building each year and has included the former Capitol Theater, Phelan Hotel, city jail and Dienstberger Home.
“The walking tour is fulfilling to me because I enjoy history. We are who we are today because of who we were yesterday and I enjoy passing that information along to the kids so they can understand why Delphos is what it is,” she said.
Coordinating the event is no small endeavor. Tom Grothous is the club’s current president.
“The tour is a lot of work. She gets the students lined up, coordinates the tour guides and trains them. She also gets breakfast and lunch lined up; there is a lot of work involved and she gets it done, he said. “She also helps set up and tear down for the concerts in the park and helps with blood drives. Those are the Rotary’s big projects and she’s involved with all of it.”
When the tour highlighted the historic Dienstberger Home, the facility was scheduled to be demolished. Because the students were strongly opposed, Smith helped raise funds to move the building from its former location across from First Federal Bank on Third Street to its current perch at Third and Washington streets. The building had been owned by the bank, which donated it the Community Improvement Corporation.
She has also organized a horse-drawn tour for the Canal Days Festival and a tour for adults that ties in to the Toast of the Town, sponsored by the chamber of commerce.
As a woman committed to local history and a business owner, Smith has also made a significant difference in the face of Main Street through the Downtown Development Project. Smith’s H&R Block/Ameriprise Financial Services building had been covered up with a facade. When she took it off, pillars and windows were revealed that instigated a domino effect that made her one of Former Downtown Manager Jay Smith’s favorite entrepreneurs.
“JoAn was willing to be flexible throughout the project, as it unfolded. When we talked about her front windows, she wasn’t sure the original windows were under there. Several times, I told her to start the whole project by taking off the facade covering and I told her I was almost positive she would find the original windows hiding under there. After a couple of months, she did that and the windows were there. Her willingness to be flexible helped her from the beginning because it saved her money,” he said.
Jay Smith said Smith’s project became one of restoration after the windows were discovered and this caused interior changes to be needed. State matching funds were not available for the inside of the building, so she funded much of the project on her own.
“She was committed to the project from the beginning; she had a vision for restoration and so much more. She took the building’s historical features and brought them back to life. I was really excited when she started seeing how the facade could be restored. She took it upon herself to do the inside — to take out the drop ceiling, install more appropriate light fixtures and open up the building. When she uncovered the windows, she saw that the drop ceiling would intrude on them. There was no grant money available for interior work, so she did the inside work on her own. She even did some electrical work. Now, when you walk in, you get the feeling of being in a restored historic building,” he said.
Smith found the local businesswoman to be young at heart as the project ensued.
“I appreciated her sense of discovery when she found a piece of steel under a window in the rear of the building that she could use at the front. It was neat watching her uncover those things and figure out how to utilize materials from the building in its own restoration,” he said.
JoAn Smith is committed to downtown Delphos for many reasons, including her own long-time presence there as a business owner.
“I have been on Main Street since the beginning and I’ve been in the present building since 1990,” she said.
Last year’s Tri-county Woman of the Year, Teresa Bradstock, is employed by Smith and believes she’s very deserving of the award.
“I really think she deserves it. For her, life is all about family, faith and friends. I wanted to nominate her myself, but I thought my working for her would be a conflict of interest, so I didn’t. I wanted to nominate her because I have watched her and I am so amazed by her professionalism. She handles herself so well and I didn’t know she is so involved until I started working for her; she’s really amazing,” Bradstock said.
Smith’s oldest daughter, Denise, manages her H&R Block services. She said her mother nearly groomed her for the job.
“We’ve worked together for 18 years. I grew up underneath her desk and did odds and ends in the office. I went away to college and a few years after I came back, I was managing a restaurant when mom needed an office manager,” she said.
Smith’s husband of 45 years says she is committed to her family and all of her community involvements.
“My wife is devoted to her family — we come first. Both our daughters work for her; Denise manages the H&R Block operation and Sarah works for her part-time during tax season,” he said.
“She has worked really hard with all the organizations she’s involved with. She’s very committed to the community, especially the children. That’s why she was a 4-H advisor and leads the walking tour.”
In addition to sitting on several committees at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, she also holds membership with the Delphos Canal Commission, where she works with Dorothy Hoffman.
“She and her family are members and she’s a very good member. She is very supportive of everything we do and she’s a very good person. I can’t say it any other way,” Hoffman said.

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