Governor Ernest Vandiver, Smith served as the master of ceremonies. She said, "I love good roads and I'm glad to fight for them. Good roads are helpful things...they make the nation just a neighborhood." Smith was an "eloquent, if arrogant" editorialist and she "never tired of her civic duty and responsibility." She supported women's rights. Smith was an active clubwoman. She was quite involved in Democratic politics and was an early supporter of FDR for president. She was a "vocal, influential delegate" to the Democratic National Convention in the years 1924, 1928, 1932, and 1936. The 1924 convention was first to receive women delegates from Georgia. Personal life Smith kept a very regular schedule, rising each day at 6:30am to make phone calls, lunch at noon with friends, leaving the office at 5:20pm to make more phone calls and retiring each day at 9:50pm. Smith suffered from arthritis and made annual visits to Hot Springs, Arkansas in search of relief. She was also a regular guest at Atlanta's Henry Grady Hotel during Christmas. Honors and awards Smith received many awards during her lifetime. Several civic organizations of Ashburn and Turner County declared "Nora Lawrence Smith Day" in April 1952. The National Newspaper Association gave her the Emma C. McKinney Memorial Award in 1968 for "outstanding contributions to her community and her profession." She was third recipient of the award and the first woman from Georgia to win it. Governor Lester Maddox declared June 6, 1968 to be "Nora Lawrence Smith Day" statewide in recognition of her winning the McKinney award. She was a member of the Georgia Press Association's "Golden Club", signifying people who have worked at newspapers for more than 50 years. She never missed a GPA convention in over 30 years. When the GPA obtained a new office building in 1969, Smith donated $10,000 to the building fund and the group named the "Nora Lawrence Smith Conference Room" in her honor. Death and legacy Smith sold the newspaper in 1969 and retired. She died at age 85 in July 1971 following a stroke. In 1974 Smith was inducted into the Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame, which had also inducted her father Joe Lawrence in 1947. In 1975 a 20 foot tall peanut sculpture on a pedestal was erected in Ashburn, and dedicated to Smith for her promotion of agriculture in the town. It was adjacent to the same