The Renfrow Story

I called the lovely Miss Edith this morning. I’ve been on a long anticipated trip to Ireland the last two weeks. The month before the trip was so busy and intense I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her in quite some time. It was so good to hear her sweet voice.

She is doing well, all 109 years of life considered. She’s looking forward to coming to Grinnell for the dedication of Renfrow Hall next September. She said she really hopes we have warm weather (it was so cold when she was here in October 2021). Her other big concern is the trip from Chicago to Grinnell. She was excited about the idea of a private plane to bring her and Alice. Wouldn’t that be great! It would be so much easier on her than the long car ride or dealing with a commercial flight. But there is no doubt this inspirational woman is planning to make it to that event. I know mine aren’t the only prayers being said that it will happen.

Every time we talk she tells me how her neighbors are constantly asking her, probably reflecting her own anxious anticipation,

When’s that book coming? When’s that book going to be done?

We had a wonderful conversation about how close we are to finishing and how important it is to keep the big picture (getting the book completed) in mind. She said she really appreciates how hard Erica is working and knows it is a really hard thing to draw pictures so that they look exactly like someone wants, or exactly like how someone looks! Then she said, “You tell her that she gets 100% for doing her very best. Not 99%, but 100%, for working so hard on this.” I could hear the echo of her years of teaching and the recognition that this is a really hard assignment.

I have recently been reminded of the saying by Voltaire, “The perfect is the enemy of good.” There are so many details in the illustrations that it is easy to get lost in the minutiae and forget that it’s the power of her story that is the most important thing. I’m not saying that we don’t care about the details, by all means we do, which I pray is obvious from the approach we are taking. But we also have limited resources of time and money that we have to manage.

I have every confidence that this is going to be a book that reflects the inspirational story of Edith Renfrow Smith. In my opinion it is going to be a good book and something to be proud of. Is it going to be a perfect book? No. There will be illustrations that may not seem good enough to someone who knows that we got a detail wrong, or that a certain image doesn’t really look like the person depicted. We’re trying to minimize those incidents, but I know it’s still going to happen.

But will there now be a book that tells the story of this amazing person? Yes. Will the words reflect her story in a way that she has approved and said make her happy and proud? Yes. Will it now be easier for hundreds of people who have never met her to learn about her and be inspired by her. Yes. Are those the most important things? YES!

I think we are in a good place. Erica is on the mend after a nasty fall and ankle injury the day before I left on my trip. We’ve talked through the list of final reworks and adjustments and she’s working through those. I’m making good progress on the pages of photographs and such that will be included at the end of the book for added information on Edith’s life. There’s still a lot to do, but we can see the day coming soon when we will be ready to send it off to the printer. Then it will just be a matter or waiting along with Edith for those books to be delivered!

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