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Entrusted with her gift to share
Yesterday I once again had the pleasure of sitting beside Edith and soaking in her charm and wisdom. I travelled to Chicago along with Tamara and three of the Grinnell College students who are doing Renfrow related research this summer. It was a belated celebration of Edith’s 109th birthday. Each of us had prepared something
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Birthday time!
Edith will turn 109 on July 14th!!! I don’t know about you, but I’ve never sent a card for a 109th birthday before so I don’t want to miss this chance. If you’re like me and want to drop her a card, we are organizing a card shower and will deliver the cards in bulk
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One by one…
Beautiful things take time and it’s always worth the wait. Illustrations are progressing at a rate of 1-2 per week and are about 20% done at this point. Erica is using historic photos for reference, like the Renfrow home in the background of this illustration. We also have decided to use flowers and other natural
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Her voice! Sharing her mother’s wisdom
There is a small group of students doing Renfrow related research with Professor Tamara Beauboeuf at Grinnell College this summer. Part of the project has involved digging into an amazing piece of research done by Stuart Yeager, class of 1982, that resulted in a thesis, “The Black Experience at Grinnell College through collected oral history
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GC Alumni love
On Saturday I had the great privilege of sharing my passion for Edith and her story with fellow alumni of Grinnell College in person for the first time. They had come from all over the country and world back to this special place that sits at the center of everywhere (as Grinnellians like to say).
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First illustrations
The last few weeks have seen some great progress on the book front. The Kickstarter campaign officially ended on May 10, but it takes a couple of weeks before all of the funds get processed and deposited into my account. Now that those funds are in had, I’m more easily able to pay the illustrator
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Walking in her light
This is the power of her attention and regard, and all of you in this room who have had the honor and the joy of speaking with Mrs. Renfrow Smith have experienced this light on you. Grinnell College President Anne Harris, April 26, 2023 In a lovely room in Chicago’s Brookdale retirement community, a group
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Preorder now from Pioneer Bookstore
I am thrilled to say that the Grinnell College Pioneer Bookstore is now offering a preorder option for the book! The Bookstore Manager, Cassie, has been super helpful and great to work with. Even though the book won’t be out until sometime next fall, I have people who are asking if they can reserve a
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Thinking through details. And a quick trip to see Edith.
Getting the funding I needed is such huge blessing (thank you contributors!) so now my attention has turned to figuring out all the details to make this actually work. After looking into a variety of options, I found a company called Print Ninja that I think is going to work well to print a high
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My head is spinning! So much joy and gratitude.
The last week has been a whirlwind. A week ago I was feeling overwhelmed and daunted by all that was happening and needed to get done. Today, I stand in awe and gratitude. I had set the Kickstarter launch for April 10, not remembering that it was the Monday after Easter weekend (we generally host
This is the story of writing “No One is Better Than You: Edith Renfrow Smith and the Power of a Mother’s Words”. I wrote 1-2 posts each month throughout 2023 as I was working on the book. It covers everything from figuring out Kickstarter to conversations with Edith to working with the illustrator. I thought it was important to document the story of what it was like to write a book about this amazing 109 year old woman!
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The Renfrow Story 