Eighty-three year-old Beryl Smith’s (Turtle Clan) laughter is infectious, and she credits her joviality with aiding her through life’s passages.

Whether it was her first experience attending an off-reservation school or out in the workplace, Beryl believes her sense of humor and extroverted personality were strong assets.

To prove her point — effortlessly — she began her story with an entertaining anecdote about her journey to Washington, D.C. as a 16-year-old girl who, as a member of the Onondaga Dance Troupe, performed at the International Folk Festival.

“On the way to D.C., we were on a train with all these soldiers, who were shipping out,” said Beryl. “It was during the war years. Anyway, we girls went a little nuts. Too bad we had chaperones.

“When we got to D.C., we joined with two other Indian groups. One group was all little guys and the other all big and fat. Needless to say we didn’t fall in love with any of them. But the festival was a huge success, drawing people from all over the world.”

Washington was only one of the stops on the dance tour for the folk festival, which also included Constitution Hall in Philadelphia and Madison Square Garden in New York City. The trip was sponsored by the National Youth Association (NYA), which President Franklin D. Roosevelt started during the Great Depression.

According to a June 27, 1935 article in The New York Times, Roosevelt set aside “$50,000,000 from work relief funds… to give more than half a million young Americans the educational and vocational opportunities of which the extended depression has threatened to rob them.”

Beryl not only benefited through the NYA with an opportunity to dance at the folk festival, but also obtained work through the project. Living on the Onondaga Reservation, she worked in the library, where she made “a whole $21 a month that bought all my school clothes. And of course, $21 was lot more money in those days,” said Beryl.

Times were difficult around the world during Beryl’s early years growing up through the Depression and World War II. Beryl and her three siblings grew up with her maternal grandparents. Her mother, Amanda Pierce, was a single mom who relied on her parents while she worked to provide for her family. Amanda’s mother Lavinia (née George), the “family matriarch,” taught the children to cook and sew.

But Beryl doesn’t recall any deprivation on her family’s part even through the lean years. Her grandfather had chickens and cows and planted a wide assortment of crops.

“I told everybody I never wanted to see another garden again because we had to pick everything from the garden,” said Beryl. “I was only 7 or 8. But we were lucky — we had enough to give a lot of food away.”

Remembering her eighth year assails her memory with another unforgettable moment. Beryl was attending the Onondaga nation school when she made a frightening discovery during class. Seated near a closet, she saw fire coming from inside. Obedient, Beryl raised her hand to inform the teacher, who told her to wait her turn. When the teacher finally answered her, Beryl told her about the fire. Everyone was evacuated safely, but the school was destroyed.

Yet another tragedy occurred while Beryl was in grade school.

“When Pearl Harbor was struck I was at the movies, and a man came right on stage and said the U.S. was attacked,” said Beryl. “I was so scared we went right home without watching the end of the movie. I was 11.”

The school on the reservation only went to sixth grade at the time, then the children went to Syracuse’s Roosevelt Junior High and on to Valley Academy

“When we first went to Roosevelt, we were treated funny,” said Beryl. “It was rough at first because they were not used to Indians. It was easier for me. I have an outgoing personality and make friends easily, plus I had seen so many races coming to our home with my Uncle Clinton (Pierce) when he went to Syracuse University (see Did You Know?). It was hard for other Indians. We weren’t really accepted. I don’t think the non-Indian kids at Roosevelt were used to all the Indian kids. My sister, Doris, wasn’t treated that well in the beginning.”

Following high school, Beryl gave up a job at the Addis Co. to work in a defense plant. She lamented leaving the department store, believing she could have gone on to be a buyer. However, the better money was in defense, as the war was still raging. Eventually, she jumped to a position at General Electric, working at the plant when they built the first portable color TV sets.

She later married, having one son (Mike) and adopting another (David). After years of bartending in Rochester, she decided to move to Burbank, California in 1970. She had friends in the state and went to stay with them until she found a job. With her ebullient personality, it didn’t take long.

“We went out my first day there, and I was offered a job bartending,” said Beryl. “I worked there until I retired at 73. I have arthritis in my hands and couldn’t hold the glass, otherwise I’d still be working there.”

Beryl’s mom, Amanda, also suffered from arthritis. It pains Beryl to remember how her mother suffered with both her knees and hips. With the newer technologies Beryl has been able to alleviate her own pain with hip and knee replacement surgery. Plus, the West Coast with its dry heat eases the discomfort of arthritis far more than the damp of the East, she said. But when she thinks of her mother, Beryl said, she mostly recalls her sense of humor.

“My mother had the wildest, sharpest sense of humor,” said Beryl. “She was 89 when she passed, and she was sharp until the day she died.”

Throughout her life, Amanda was always busy attending meetings like the Daughters of the American Revolution and making Indian art work to sell. A hard worker, Beryl said her mother cleaned houses, leaving for work before the children were up and returning home after dinner. But Beryl also remembers good times with her mom.

When her children were teenagers, Amanda would take them and all the neighborhood kids to Sylvan Beach to listen to the Big Bands play.

“We couldn’t afford to go in, so we all stood outside,” said Beryl. “And we always had friends to the house. On weekends, she’d take all of us for ice cream.”

Memories ring clearly in her descriptions, and Beryl continues to build her repertoire of stories. She admits to missing the East in the fall when the leaves change, and deploring the thought of winter.

“To me, 60 degrees is cold, and I turn my heat on,” said Beryl.

“I like it out here. They are pretty proud of Indians out here. It’s different. They think more of Indians here. I have oodles of friends, and I’ve got some good stories …. But a lot of them aren’t tellable.”

One can only imagine.