Noted horsewoman and philanthropist, Mignon Comer Smith died
Friday of an apparent heart attack in Washington, D.C. She was 81.
Smith was born in Birmingham, Alabama on February 7, 1931.
Smith took up riding as a child and at the age of 13, she
began her career as a volunteer by selling war bonds with the help of her first
horse, Invasion. To no one’s surprise, the young Smith sold more bonds than
anyone in her school.
She continued her equine pursuits while a student at the
Madeira School in McLean and later at Briarcliff College in New York. She would go on to attend the University of
Alabama where she studied political science and journalism, two lifelong
passions.
An avid rider, Smith rode in amateur races and earned her
colors with the Fairfax Hunt. Smith suffered a broken back and a concussion
following two separate incidents in 1956 which prompted her to quip, “I was
confused about the purpose of leap year.”
Smith established the first pony club in the Birmingham,
Alabama area for young riders and the team went on to compete at a national
level.
Smith, was an accomplished breeder and owner for 50 years
racing on the flat and over jumps. The horses she bred won over $2.4 million in purses including 9 black type winners.
In 2010, her homebred Class Bopper was honored as the Virginia-bred
Champion Over Fences after winning the $50,000 Zeke Ferguson
Memorial to go with over $159,000 in career earnings. Smith also bred and raced 2006 Virginia-bred
Champion Over Fences Class Vantage, a stakes winner over jumps and stakes place
on the flat with career earnings of over $105,000. Smith's third Virginia-bred champion over jumps was Class Shadow who won $142,466 including the Peapack Hurdle Stakes.
In April of 2005, she led the NSA leading owners list
following a victory by her homebred Class Yankee. Class Yankee, by Northern
Baby, out of one of Smith’s homebred mares would go on to win $140,916 both on
the flat and over jumps. The talented
mare would win the Oakely Stakes and the Brookmeade Stakes at Colonial Downs.
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| CLASS VANTAGE (Libbie Greenhalgh Photo) |
Smith also bred Class Yankee’s half-brother Class Concern
who won $143,721 including the Humphrey S. Finney Stakes. He also set a new track record at Aiken.
Other top Mede Cahaba runners included Complete Zen
($159,566, National Hunt Cup, etc.); Complete
Number ($145,125, 2nd Decoration Day H., etc.); Class Smash
($125,222); Clear Potomac ($110,280, Masked General H. etc.); Conga Tempo
(World Playground Breeders Cup Stakes); Class Chief (Double Jay Stakes); Class
Secret (3rd Temple Gwathmey H. Gr.2) and Cadent (3rd Nick Shuk
Memorial) among others.
In recent years, Smith’s Mede Cahaba Stable and Stud had
been among the leading Virginia owners and breeders. Since 2006, Smith’s homebred runners have
earned $1,001,632 at various racetracks and sanctioned steeplechase venues.
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| CLASS BOPPER (Coady Photography) |
A long-time member of the National Press Club, Smith served
30 years as a radio journalist prior to retiring and turning her attention to
horses, politics and philanthropy. She
was a White House correspondent and was in the White House Press Room the night
President Nixon resigned.
Smith retired as Washington correspondent for the Alabama
Radio Network after some thirty years. Smith was a member of the Congressional
Radio/TV Galleries and Society of Professional Journalist as well as a
long-time member of the National Press Club.
In February 2007 she was honored by the Alabama
Broadcasters’ Association with the award of Lifetime Membership. Also in 2007, she was inducted into the
University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences’ Hall
of Fame.
Smith recently created and funded a scholarship program in
Alabama in honor of her parents J. Craig and Page T. Smith. Her father was
president and CEO of Avondale Mills, one of the South’s oldest textile companies. Smith’s great-grandfather Braxton Bragg Comer
was the governor of Alabama from 1907 to 1911. He doubled the state’s support
for public education while in office. He founded Avondale Mills which, under
the leadership of Smith’s father was one of the first in the country to offer
profit-sharing, educational opportunities for mill workers and their children,
and even recreational facilities to its employees.
The J. Craig and Page T. Smith Scholarship Foundation is charged
with choosing worthy Alabama high school graduates for full college
scholarships Begun with a gift of $10
million, the scholarship program has supported more than 99 students since
inception, with 55 now in the program.
Unlike most scholarships, the Smith scholarships do not
require straight A’s or top test scores, but rather reward students who have
worked hard for their family and community, perhaps while overcoming economic
or familial hardships. Most scholarship recipients are the first in their
families to attend college and would not otherwise have been able to seek
higher education.
According to Ahrian Tyler Dudley, the foundation's
administrator, the scholarship program now will receive an additional $20
million bequest from Smith making it the largest public education endowment in
the state of Alabama.
Smith also honored her father with the establishment of the
J. Craig Smith Endowment Chair for Integrity in Business at the University of Alabama. Distressed by
recent corruption scandals in the business community, she hoped that her
father’s values of integrity, honesty, and fair play will be supported by both
the endowed chair and the Initiative for Ethics and Social Responsibility, a
campus-wide initiative at the University of Alabama to support and enhance
citizenship among students.
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| SMITH and SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS |
A long-time member of the Alabama Republican Party, Smith
was Alabama's first young Republican Committee Woman and served as alternate
delegate at large to the 1956 and 1960 National Republican Convention. Smith returned
to her Birmingham townhouse regularly to vote and to serve on jury duty.
Of no surprise to those who knew her, when Alabama Senator Jeff
Sessions wanted to honor her on the floor of the United States Senate for her
generosity to Alabama students, she refused stating she did not want Senate
calendar clogged up by frivolous honary ceremonies.
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| GIGI (Bill O'Brien/Washington Times) |
Active to the end, Smith only recently gave up the keys to
her 1976 Cadillac, nicknamed Gigi (Giant Green Gas-Guzzling Goddess) and lived
in two apartments in Washington's Watergate complex.
When she wasn’t travelling to Alabama or at the races she
sailed the Chesapeake Bay on her 35-foot sailboat.
At the time of her death, she was a member of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association and was tirelessly lobbying the Breeders Cup to select Colonial Downs as a future venue. Smith won the VTA's Award of Merit in 2005.
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