Barbara Dodge Smith
(1927-1996)

Died aged c. 69

Barbara Dodge Smith, born in 1927, was the first woman elected president of the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce and the first female member of the Noontime Kiwanis, where she was awarded the Kiwanis International Foundation’s Hixon Award for outstanding community service. In 1993 she was elected to the City Commission where she helped acquire property to enlarge Atlantic High School. She also lobbied for the city’s After School Program and supported the development of the Sandoway Nature Center. As president of the Delray Beach Community Child Care Center for abused and under privileged children, she persuaded the city to donate land for a new center, which was completed in 1990. She then convinced her board to buy a lot next door for a toddler center, which was posthumously named the Barbara D. Smith Toddler Center in 1996. In 1998, the center was accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children and was awarded the Gold Seal of Excellence by the Florida Department of Children and Families. Barbara Dodge Smith died in 1996.

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