Smiley, Anita Rothwell, 1915-2007

Anita Smiley (1915-2007) was a local historian and sixth-grade teacher at Cold Spring Elementary School in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Born in Willow Grove to Eugene and Anita Rothwell, she married Morrill Adelbert Smiley. After attending West Chester State Teachers' College (now West Chester State University), she began teaching in Upper Moreland schools in 1935. Smiley was an avid local historian with memberships in the Upper Moreland Historical Association and the Old York Road Historical Society. She was particularly interested in the Willow Grove Amusement Park, and contributed her photographs and expertise on the park for a 1993 episode of the PBS television show of "Things That Aren't There Anymore."

Bibliography:

"Anita Rothwell Smiley." The Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pa.), February 15, 2007.

From the guide to the Anita Rothwell Smiley scrapbooks, 1892-1992, (Upper Moreland Historical Association)