provided to The Santiva Chronicle
The “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS) recently elected Josephine “Jo” A. Smith to serve on its board of directors. A full-time Sanibel Island resident since 2014, Smith hails from Detroit, Mich., and spent most of her life in East Lansing, Mich., working with General Motors for more than 40 years.
She studied for her Bachelor of Science at Michigan State University in East Lansing and Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich., and served as CFO of GM Global Technology Operations from 1995 until she retired in 2008. She and her late husband, Ron, began visiting Sanibel with their two sons in the early 1980s.
“My husband and I always went to ‘Ding’ every time we came to island – back when there was a drawbridge to Sanibel,” says Smith. “We became very fond of the refuge, and when we moved here permanently, we became more active in supporting it by making sure we contributed. Everyone who ever came to visit, we would take them on Wildlife Drive at least once during their stay.”…