Cornell Memorial Statement for Helen Powell Smith (September 1, 1899 — February 6, 1997)
"Professor Helen Powell Smith died on February 6, 1997, at the age of 97. She was born in Washington, D.C., in 1899 and attended high school there. She received her B.S. degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1921. After graduation, she co-managed a tea room and inn at Ormond Beach, Florida during the winter months and supervised the Lake Placid Tea Room during the summers of 1922 to 1923. In the summer of 1924, she supervised the dining room at Canyon Camp, Yellowstone Park.
In 1925, Professor Powell Smith became a home demonstration agent in Bergen County, New Jersey, and the following year became an Associate Clothing Specialist for the New Jersey Extension Service. In 1929, she left the extension service and began working in private industry, first as a promotion advisor for Hahne Company and then as Director of the Color Research Bureau and the Educational Bureau of the Spool Cotton Co. of New York, selling agents for J and P Coats and Clarks threads. During this period, she was a resource person for both college home economics programs and the extension services of New England and southern states. In this capacity, she developed teaching materials, bulletins, clothing kits, and educational services.
While in New York City, Professor Powell Smith began taking courses at Columbia University, primarily in art, and later in summer programs in Maine and North Carolina. In 1937, she married Culver Allan Smith. He was hired by Cornell in 1935 as Assistant Director of Placement Services. In 1946, he became Director of the University Placement Service and by 1953, he was the University Employment Counselor in the Office of the Dean of Men.
Professor Powell Smith joined the faculty of the College of Home Economics as Acting Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in clothing in 1937. She was appointed Assistant Professor in 1939 and Associate Professor in 1943. In 1952, she became head of the Department of Textiles and Clothing, a position she held until her retirement in 1958. As an administrator, she was very interested in the development of educational resources, and she was able to allocate a fund for the purchase of a valuable collection of ethnic clothing and textiles, which was acquired from a professor of Art History at Columbia University. This collection is now one of Cornell’s most valuable. While serving as head of the department, she was also the Extension Clothing Project Leader.
Professor Powell initiated a radio program “Let’s Make a Dress,” a set of 15 discussions about how to cut, fit and sew a dress. The series was an experiment in the effectiveness of teaching a technical subject over the radio. It was also a way to reach rural homemakers who could not attend local home demonstration meetings. She conducted live presentations for Extension audiences that were recorded for use at various stations around New York. Listeners registered for the program and participants over the five years of the program exceeded 15,000. Registrants received lesson helps so that they could keep abreast of the presentations over the radio.
Professor Powell Smith was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, National Honorary Scholastic Fraternity and Epsilon Sigma Phi, National Honorary Extension Fraternity. In 1947, Epsilon Sigma Phi awarded Professor Powell Smith its Certificate of Highest Achievement for the radio program she developed. She also received an Award of Merit from WHCU as a result of the radio program originated and produced at WHCU.
After her retirement, she and her husband moved to Black Mountain, North Carolina. They continued their interests in gardening and traveling. She also enjoyed spending time weaving on her own loom. In 1983, Professor Powell Smith moved into Highland Farms Retirement Community, where she was active in the center’s activities, including the thespian group. She also enjoyed reading, playing classical music on the piano, and walking around the campus. Professor Powell Smith spent her remaining years at Highland Farms, and was there when she died. She is survived by her sister-in-law, Dora Powell, of Ashville, North Carolina; her niece, Sarah Wall, of Black Mountain, North Carolina; and her grand nephew, Douglas Powell III, of Long Beach, California."