Meet Your Neighbors Series Continues Mike and Martha Smiles – June 5th 7:00 PM

Mike:
Mike now volunteers for the Essex Community Fund, St John’s Church, CATS, and has opened up Smiles Studio LLC at 1275 Main St. (adjacent to The Old Dock).  

In addition to oil painting and driftwood sculpture, Mike builds retro camera smartphone devices for story telling and video booths with social impact.

Mike this year retired as a career nonprofit executive with a love for “the simple life” thanks to Martha and her family who grew up coming to the Crater Club as a 50-year family tradition.  When we inherited the small Stepping Stones camp in 2011 overlooking Lake Champlain, Mike set out to intertwine his passion for social impact, maritime history and arts by leading the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in 2915, followed by the role of Director of Development for the Shelburne Museum in 2017 until 2019 when he joined his younger brother, remotely, in several national fundraising roles as part of a philanthropy collaborative and consulting firm Andrew Smiles led from Denver.

We are honored to be asked to share more about our love for Essex, and to get to know more people as they get to know us!

Martha:
I’m very blessed to have spent my childhood and young adult life at the Crater Club. My life was greatly defined by summers here so it was fitting that in 2010 I assumed ownership of the small camp owned by my parents. In 2015 we tore down the seasonal camp and built a year round home. The rock garden with its sea of springtime flowers remains and the glow of lights can be seen year round. Poppy, our Tibetan Terrier, keeps an eye on the chipmunks.

I recently retired from a career in executive recruitment. I’m really enjoying my second childhood! You may see me walking on the roads, picking up “discarded debris” on Lake Shore, planting daffodils, or volunteering with Essex Initiatives and the ADK garden club project at the quarry. I’m also a board member of CATS and serve on the Essex Comprehensive Planning Committee.


Upcoming Meet Your Neighbors programs:
July 3 – Celeste Kranz and Bill Feehely
August 7 -Hal and Laura Kennedy
September 4 Christine Burke and Johnny Gray

Light refreshments will be served following the program. There is a suggested doantion of $5.00 to help support the library.