Columns

Miss Ida finds her peace, purpose

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published November 19, 2006

The week before Thanksgiving 2005, Jim Smith went turkey hunting and returned with a fine looking wild bird.

Ida, his wife of more than 50 years, remembers his excitement. The Dade City resident loved to hunt and fish. A friend had given him permission to hunt on the friend's wooded property in Wesley Chapel.

The following Saturday he and Ida went garage sale shopping. She remembers it as one of the happiest days of their marriage. Then early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Jim grabbed his gun and went deer hunting with a grandson, Justin.

Ida remembers that Jim always kissed her goodbye, even if he was going to the grocery store. She's still trying to remember if he did that morning.

She remembers waiting for him to come home with a deer, venison for the Thanksgiving feast. But she never heard his footsteps, only the telephone ringing. No one calls with good news early Sunday morning.

The events of a year ago are still painful and fresh. It's hard for her not to talk about them without crying. Hers is a story of losing a mate and finding a mission, of losing a loved one and finding a sense of purpose. She knows that now. But that morning a year ago, all she knew was that her grandson was on the phone crying hysterically. Pappy was hurt.

While deer hunting in the woods off State Road 54, Jim Smith was about to move his pickup when the vehicle lurched forward and pinned him against a tree. Frantic minutes later, Ida found him lying on the ground. There wasn't much she could do for him.

After her husband died, Ida could have locked herself in her bedroom and stayed angry at the world, at God. Yes, she was angry - for a while.

That's understandable. She and Jim had been inseparable since he returned to the Chicago suburbs from Korea in 1952 and the two had their first date at the neighborhood ice cream parlor. They met in March, were engaged that May, married in September. She was 17; he was 21.

They raised five children and moved more times than she could count, but she still has their wedding picture, the one with him looking at her with honeymoon suite eyes.

"Imagine living with that look for 53 years," she said.

Ida showed me that picture soon after I first met her at Sacred Heart day care. She volunteered there a few days a week to provide a reassuring presence for her granddaughter, Hannah, and soon became Miss Ida, everyone's favorite grandma.

After Hannah graduated from pre-K, without the daily school routine, Miss Ida felt a bit lost. She traveled; she tried bingo night, but that wasn't her thing. Only giving and sharing filled the void Jim left behind.

So this summer, the 71-year-old grandma walked into San Antonio Elementary and asked a question that's not asked nearly often enough. What can I do to help?

Most volunteers hate lunchroom duty, but not Miss Ida. She's happy among the splashes, spilled ketchup, the discarded sandwiches and finicky eaters. Kids love Miss Ida. She has been volunteering at the school since August and already has been nominated as its volunteer of the year.

Considering what she has lost and found, Miss Ida has already won.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at 813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 18, 2006, 20:11:14]