Supporters Board Profile: Garland Smith

Unlike many members of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Supporters Board, Garland Cook Smith did not have a personal connection to cancer when she joined the group.            

“I had sent in a contribution at one time and started receiving [Crossroads], so I was aware of the research being done, and that interested me,” Mrs. Smith recalls. “When [board member] Lee Thuston asked me to join, I told him I didn’t have any family members with cancer. And he said, ‘You will.’”            

That was in 1999, and since then cancer has indeed touched Mrs. Smith’s family; she lost her sister-in-law and an uncle to the disease seven years ago. Her stepfather and mother-in-law have also been struck by cancer. Since joining the Supporters Board, Mrs. Smith has been one of its most active members, serving as a vice president and the current chair of the board’s new public relations and community relations committee.            

“It’s one of the most committed boards I’ve ever seen,” she says. “It’s an exciting time to be at the Cancer Center, but there’s still a lot that needs to be done. One of our committee’s goals is to educate people about what it means to be a ‘comprehensive’ cancer center, and what our center—and UAB—means to this community. Where would Birmingham be without UAB?”

Mrs. Smith’s connection to the campus actually dates back many years—even before UAB existed. Her grandfather, Farley Wingfield Harris, was a member of the first graduating class of the Birmingham Medical College in 1915, which would eventually become part of UAB’s School of Medicine.  

A Love of History            
Mrs. Smith’s life includes many other links to bygone days. Though she was born in Birmingham, she spent her first 12 years in her father’s hometown of Camden. Located in the heart of Alabama’s Black Belt, the small but historically rich Wilcox County town helped foster her interest in the past.            

Mrs. Smith is actively involved in several historical organizations and societies, in both the Black Belt and Birmingham. She is actively involved with the restoration of the Virginia Samford Theatre, as well as the Alabama Ballet and the McWane Science Center. She currently serves as president of the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, which focuses on the future of the state’s historic buildings, neighborhoods and other places. She also is leading efforts to establish a new history museum for Birmingham and Jefferson County. “We have several different museums, each dedicated to one particular part of our history, but we don’t have one comprehensive museum that brings it all together in one place,” she says. “I hope that my work in Birmingham and the Black Belt will help Alabamians realize the wonderful things we have here.”            

One project that is especially close to Mrs. Smith’s heart is the restoration of her childhood home in Camden. “The house was built in 1851, and we’ve spent a few years restoring it,” she says. “My grandchildren are the seventh generation to have lived in the house, so it’s a very special place to me and my family.”

That family includes her husband of 39 years, Lathrop Smith, whom she met on a blind date while she was a student at the University of Alabama. “Blind dates do work sometimes,” she jokes. She and Mr. Smith have two children: a son, Lathrop III, a financial consultant in Austin, Texas, and a daughter, Lindsay, an urban planner in Birmingham. They also have two grandchildren, Dorothy Ann, 5, and Lathrop IV, nicknamed Winn, 2.            

Whether she’s honoring the past or ensuring a bright future for the Cancer Center, Mrs. Smith focuses on family, community and making a difference in people’s lives. “I enjoy being involved in the community and always have,” she says. “When you grow up with those roots, you want to contribute to the greater good of the state.”  

The Public Relations and Community Relations Committee that Mrs. Smith chairs is one of three committees formed in the recent reorganization of the Supporters Board; the other two focus on income development and patient and family services. “By dividing the board into three primary areas, we can better utilize the talents of our members,” says Cancer Center director Edward Partridge, M.D. “This has always been an active board, but I want them to take on an even bigger role in the Cancer Center’s future. This reorganization brings new energy to the board and is going to take us to the next level.”