Shirley Smith

   Shirley Smith was born in Wichita, Kansas, the daughter of an undertaker, and Kansas was always with her through a long career as model, actress and painter.  She talked about Whitewater a  lot and was named Miss Butler County in 1947 and later won beauty contests in Manhattan and Kansas City.  She attended Kansas State University where she majored in radio, moved to Kansas City to work for a radio station, then started apearing in ads for Helzberg's jewelery store.

She moved to New York to be a model in 1952 and apeared in magazines such as  Vogue and Harper's. She appeared in the cast of Picnhic wirtten by another Kansan, William Inge and was part of its first touring addition.She was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1991.  She would come back to Whitewater in the spring and summer and live in a trailer and take a lot of photogtasphs of farm animals which would make their way into her paintings.   Her Soho loft became filled with paintings of animals, Kansas landscapes and prairie scenes.  She wanted to be taken seriouslyy as an artist, but at the  same time, she had this glamorous background. 

   Despite the years she sent away from her native state, Ms. Smith always wanted to be buried in Whitewater with the rest of her family.