For Virginia Twinam Smith, it was never too late to pursue her dreams.
Although she married at 19 and soon was busy with children, the avid reader taught herself cultural history to enhance her volunteer work as a museum docent and an expert on plant lore.
In her 60s, she went to photography school. In her 70s, she completed a highly regarded photo project on Little Five Points.
By her 80s, Smith had adapted to new technology and become an award-winning photographer known for her digitally enhanced botanical composites.
“I always admired Virginia because she was a determined person. She was a dynamo. She was not going to quit,” said friend Junie Brown of Peachtree Corners. “She saw no reason that a woman in her 70s could not have an impact. She was a pioneer and an example for a lot of young female photographers.”
Smith died May 6 of heart failure at the age of 91. A reception in her honor, along with an exhibit of her work, will be at 6 p.m. July 1 in the Atlanta Photography Group Gallery at the TULA Arts Center in Atlanta.
She was born in 1923 in Chattanooga and grew up in Philadelphia. In 1943, she married Robert Milburn Smith.
They moved to Atlanta in 1954, and Smith became an active volunteer in the arts and gardening community. She and her husband were early members of the Cherokee Town and Country Club.
Smith was on the board of the Atlanta Arts Festival in the 1950s and later served as a docent at the High Museum of Art for 19 years.
Her interest in plant history led her to volunteer in the Tullie Smith House garden at the Atlanta History Center. She was a co-founder of the Chattahoochee Unit of the Herb Society of America and often spoke to civic groups and garden clubs about plant lore.
While working at the Sandy Springs Historic Community Foundation, Smith helped establish the historical accuracy and a photographic record of the collection in the Williams-Payne House Museum.
She completed a set of slides on the history of roses while photographing plants for her garden talks.
To improve her photo skills, she earned a photography certificate from the Southeastern Center for the Arts in 1988 when she was 65. Her husband built her a darkroom, and he carried her camera equipment on photography trips.
As film photography faded with the rise of digital cameras, she taught herself to use Photoshop and became an early user of the digital darkroom and image manipulation by placing plants on a flatbed scanner.
The new technology enabled her to continue her work into her 80s when she became too weak to lug camera equipment in the field.
Her photos have appeared in regional and national publications and in exhibits at malls, galleries and Callanwolde Arts Center.
Returning to school later in life broadened her horizons in other ways, said her daughter Deborah Timberlake of Avondale Estates.
Suddenly, she was running with a younger set of arts friends. As her membership switched from country club to photo group, so did her social and political outlook.
“Her eyes opened to the way the world worked for other people. She became more liberal and inclusive,” Timberlake said. “I was really proud. She became more like me.”
Smith also gave as well as she got. She remained an active member of the Atlanta Photography Group and Women in Focus. In 2012, she sponsored APG’s first Print Purchase Award program, which gives artists an opportunity to have their work selected for a museum’s permanent collection.
She also was a mentor and inspiration, said photographer Ann Moller of Sandy Springs.
“I was one of three younger friends she helped. We felt really privileged that she took us under her wing,” Moller said. “She was intrepid and fearless about learning things and going places and standing up for herself. Anything she did, she did with precision and full force. She didn’t let anything stand in her way.”
In addition to her daughter, Smith is survived by her son Courtenay Howell Smith of Renton, Wash., three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
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