Louise Smith photographs

Louise Verna Smith (Kraft), was born in Lockport, Illinois on August 27, 1909 to Draper Penrose Smith and Susannah Laverna Smith. Sometime before 1916, the family moved to Longmont, Colorado, where Draper Smith made headstones. Smith followed her sister, Margaret Rosetta Smith, to attend the University of Colorado in 1928 and graduated in 1932 with a Bachelor of Arts. At the University of Colorado, Smith became an active student. She was a member of Alpha Zeta Pi, an honors organization that promoted academic work in Romance Languages and Literature as well as Kappa Delta Pi, whose members demonstrated excellence in the field of education. She was also a member of Spur, a national organization that sought to foster school spirit and maintain university traditions. During her time as a student, Smith also served as Vice President of the Women’s Club and Treasurer of the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization promoting inter-cultural understanding. The University’s House of Representatives, Senate, Y.W.C.A., and Big Sisters, an organization that allowed junior and senior students to mentor freshmen, also counted Smith among their members. After she graduated, Smith worked as a teacher in Longmont, Colorado until 1936 when she married Charles Franklin Kraft. During their lives, the couple had two children, Robert Draper Kraft and Laverna L. Kraft. Louise Smith died in November of 1979.