When Mary Grace Lanese called to tell me “Smiley” Wallace had died at age 93, on October 2, delightful memories of a long friendship with this tall congenial fellow filled my mind. I met Smiley and Helen in 1974 at the first Joplin ragtime festival in Sedalia.
In about 1965 the Wallaces had moved to Overland Park, Kansas, from their original home in Joplin, Missouri, where they had been enthusiastic fans of Ragtime Bob Darch and were close to his family. Bob introduced the Wallaces to many performers including a young prodigy, Steve Spracklin who is still performing today out of Joplin.
In 1993 Smiley and Helen decided to help begin the old ragtime Revelry group to promote ragtime and early jazz and to produce events, with members of the Etcetera String Band, Dennis Pash, Kevin Sanders and Pat Ireland. Today the city group goes by the name Kansas City Ragtime and Beyond and they stage four or five concerts a year and sponsor activities and events promoting America’s earliest music. Smiley served on the board and was an ultra-active member until his death. Throughout the years Smiley was a strong advocate for ragtime and early jazz during his long five-decade career as a 6th grade schoolteacher and concert producer. In addition, he encouraged and supported young talent through the years.
Smiley and Helen were prominently involved in finding and marking the graves of important music pioneers in the Kansas City area like Arthur Marshall, James Scott, and later the grave of Blind Boone in Warrensburg, Missouri.
We remember Smiley’s daughters Melissa and Anne and their families in their time of loss and are grateful to relay that close, longtime colleagues and friends, Mary Grace and Jerry Lanese were at his bedside when he died. He had been in declining health for several years.
We are diminished by the death of leaders like Smiley and Helen Wallace but their legacy of dedicated love and support for America’s original music will endure through many more generations.
Larry Melton was a founder of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in 1974 and the Sedalia Ragtime Archive in 1976. He was a Sedalia Chamber of Commerce manager before moving on to Union, Missouri where he is currently helping to conserve the Ragtime collection of the Sedalia Heritage Foundation. Write him at lcmelton67@gmail.com.
