Ann Smith - Veterans Oral History Project

From Gainsville:

In retirement, Ann Smith is not content to sit back and relax.

As coordinator of the Veterans Project for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida, Smith is busy interviewing veterans, transcribing interviews and working with student interns to teach them about oral history.

Before she retired in the mid-1990s, Smith was a nurse in Gainesville.

"When I retired, I was looking for something that would be more meaningful than reading the novels I hadn't had the chance to read yet," Smith said. "I wanted an intellectual component. I didn't think dusting the mantel would do it for me."

Smith saw an article about the Oral History Program at UF and its need for volunteers.

The program calls itself "one of the largest and most diverse oral history repositories in the United States," having conducted some 4,800 interviews.