Santa Monica Meeting Friends bade farewell to the last of the Meeting’s founding members when Betty Mallet Smith passed away on November 23, 2021 at 96 years of age. Betty and husband Myron were key participants in the group of Friends which came together in the 1950’s for construction of the Santa Monica Friends Meeting House. This group of Friends met in members’ homes, but soon saw the need to offer First Day School for its growing flock of young children.
Betty was born December 4, 1924 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to James Laurel Mallet and Eula Gravitt. She was a devoted and beloved wife, mother, educator, and Quaker. She helped to shape the spiritual direction of the Santa Monica Meeting for more than sixty years and played a key role in building the Meetinghouse.
Betty attended William Jewell College in Missouri and Brown University in Rhode Island, receiving B.A. and M.A. degrees in philosophy. While attending graduate school she met and married her husband of 53 years, Myron Chawner Smith who predeceased her as did their daughter Shelley. Betty and Myron shared a love of classical music and Betty was a fine pianist who also enjoyed singing. Following a time in Texas and Massachusetts, the family settled in Santa Monica in 1956 and later moved to Malibu.
In 1966, Betty founded Poiesis Seminars, a life long project dedicated to leading seminars in mythology from the psychological perspective of C.G. Jung. She taught philosophy from 1963 to 1972 at Santa Monica College, Mt. St. Mary's College, and California Lutheran University. From 1974 to 1991, Betty taught in the Analyst Training Program of the Los Angeles Jung Institute where she is known for the amplification of Greek myths through her written dialogues. Betty lectured extensively in the West, Southwest, and Southeast with international work in Switzerland, Portugal, and Greece. Her special delight centered on conducting twelve mythology seminar tours to Greece between 1973 and 2007. Select publications include Loved by a God, Conversations in South Pasture, and a collection of her writings entitled The Greek Dialogues. She enjoyed the peace and quiet of her home, reading, reflecting and sharing the insights of her fertile imagination with friends and family.
Betty Smith is survived by son Marston and his wife Heidi; daughter Shonti and her husband Charles; six grandchildren; two great grandchildren; and many close relatives, friends and colleagues.
On December 12, 2021 a Memorial Meeting for Worship for Betty Smith was conducted in the Meeting House utilizing a combined online and in-person format.