Woman's vision enhances films, art
by Brandy McDonnell

05/11/2003

Roy Hoffman Jr. taught his family to "leave more wood on the wood pile than was there when you came."

His daughter, Jeanne Hoffman Smith, took his philosophy to heart. For the past two decades, she has used the inheritances her late father and mother, Grace Thatcher Hoffman, left to establish programs to enrich her community and state.

"I believe that we are given resources with the expectation of understanding that our mission is to be good stewards. Reciprocity and giving back are developmentally mature qualities and actions and serve as powerful bulwarks against selfishness and the human pull to take advantage of others," she said.

"We are whatever we are because others have given much to us, and we become stewards to pass it on down wisely and well."

The Oklahoma City resident has used her resources to establish endowments for the film program at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, film programs and a creativity award at the University of Oklahoma and a poetry instructor and a film program at the Oklahoma Arts Institute. She established an endowment to found the Center for Interpersonal Studies through Film and Literature at Oklahoma City University.

"She has a real vision for the importance of the arts, especially film and literature, as a means for people to understand themselves and the world," said Harbour Winn, director for the Center for Interpersonal Studies, which offers public speakers, film series and a large selection of films for the public to check out. "She's a real change agent. She sees where we are not at yet."

Smith, a clinical social worker, sits on the advisory committee of the Oklahoma State Film Commission and the advisory boards of OU's World Literature Today and the Center for Interpersonal Studies. The OCU trustee is a corporate board member of the Presbyterian Health Foundation and board member emeritus of the Oklahoma Arts Institute. She is a lifetime board member of the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma County and established an endowment to support new programs for it.

A native Oklahoman, Smith grew up in Chandler, living there until her father joined the Army Air Corps in World War II. After the war, her family settled in Oklahoma City, and she graduated from Classen High School. Although he wasn't wealthy, her father influenced her with his generosity, and her mother, a pianist and poetry lover, possessed an inspiring creative spirit.

As a young mother of three in an era that encouraged community involvement, Smith worked with organizations including the Junior League and United Way. She relished her volunteer experiences but advises mothers of young children to carefully balance their community service with family responsibilities.

The 73-year-old returned to college when she was in her 40s, receiving a bachelor's degree in psychology from OCU. She earned graduate degrees from the University of Louisville in Kentucky and the Colorado Center for Psychoanalytical Studies. A lover of films, literature and poetry, she often uses these tools to encourage her patients to be creative and find more options in their lives.

She got the chance to stretch her imagination in the community service area when Edith Kinney Gaylord asked her to join the advisory committee of her charitable Inasmuch Foundation. Smith said Gaylord, who died two years ago, taught her the importance of using her resources to make a difference in the community.

"She wanted us to have fun doing it," Smith said. "I feel like she taught me more than anyone ever has about giving."

When her parents died, they left Smith with resources and decisions. She had to decide what to do with her inheritance, and she opted to "play with it" to see what she could do to enrich the community.

"I made a challenge out of it for myself. I feel like I've made an investment in the community," she said.

Her passion for films has driven many of her projects. She established an endowment at OU, which has supported the university's film and video studies program, and the Jeanne Hoffman Smith Professorship in Film and Video Studies.

Last year, she worked with OU's College of Arts and Sciences to establish the Creativity in Motion-Thatcher Hoffman Smith Prize. The $40,000 biennial prize, which was first awarded earlier this spring, recognizes and encourages the creative process as it is expressed in arts, sciences and other areas.

In the 1990s, she established an endowment to help the Oklahoma City Museum of Art start its film program. The program has expanded and flourished, especially since the museum moved into its new facility, which includes the Noble Theater, said Brian Hearn, the museum's film curator.

Smith not only plants the seeds for projects by donating funds but nurtures them by generating ideas, raising awareness and offering continuing support, he said.

"We wouldn't have a film program without Jeanne, that's the bottom line," Hearn said. "Jeanne has done more for stimulating the film culture in Oklahoma than almost anybody. ... It's been pretty remarkable what she's done with her passion in this one field. She's changed the cultural landscape of Oklahoma City, if not the whole state."

In addition, Smith has given her time and resources to support historic preservation and education efforts in her hometown of Chandler. She gave a challenge grant to help the Lincoln County Historical Society buy the building next door to its Pioneer History Museum. She has given additional funds to renovate the annex, and the public-use space in it will be named the Jeanne Hoffman Smith Gallery, said Chandler resident Sally Ferrell.

About 10 years ago, Smith started the Lincoln County Children's Historical Resource Center and established a committee to create innovative programs for children, said Ferrell, chairman of the committee. One of its programs is Miss Faye's Touring Marionette Theater, named after Smith's first-grade teacher, Faye Armstrong, who used puppets to teach.

Smith said she hopes her efforts have shown that a person does not have to be particularly wealthy to be a philanthropist.

"If you love it and feel passionate about it, it feeds you as much as you feed the community. I get back twice as much as I put in," she said. "I wanted to have an influence on my children and grandchildren, to think about what they might do to help the community. And I think you have the most influence by setting an example.

She has three children, son Harrison Smith and wife Joanne and son Roy Smith and wife Marty, all of Oklahoma City, and daughter Victoria and husband Mark Eaton of San Marino, Calif. Her five grandchildren range in age from 23 years to 3 months.