GENENE M. SMITH,

Coauthor & Editor

Genene MeGuel Smith, coauthor and editor of Let Me Tell You About Coal Creek, is one of Laura Wilson Gary’s granddaughters. Genene’s mother, Elizabeth Smith Pirtle is an artist, clothing designer, retired schoolteacher, and the daughter of Laura Wilson Gary. Genene’s father, the late Dr. William David Smith Sr. was the author of two books on black psychology and the founder of the Department of African American Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Genene was born in Tennessee, but raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. She expressed an early interest in writing and poetry and by the time that she graduated from high school in 1980 her poetry had been published 5 times in a local magazine. She was named the 1985 Poet Laureate of Pleasant Ridge and was a featured poet for the Conference of Cincinnati Women in 1986. She has given poetry readings at various schools and Black Arts Festivals. Genene has also spent over 15 years working for public libraries in Ohio and Louisiana. A graduate of McNeese State University, she currently lives in DeQuincy, Louisiana where she and her husband Ernest Thibodeaux Jr. are active in the Bible educational work of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

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