Retired Okanagan Falls librarian keeps creative with miniatures

A walk through Ruell Smith’s house in Okanagan Falls reveals a colourful array of delightful miniature displays covering almost every inch of the rooms within.

The longtime well-known Okanagan Falls librarian retired last year after almost 30 years, but she continues to put her imagination to work through her myriad of creative collections.

Upon first entering Smith’s front door, the visitor is hit with shelves of small Asian statues. “People drop in and their eyes glaze over sometimes,” says Smith good-naturedly about her collections of objects as varied as decorative eggs to bubble head dolls.

In a room off the hallway, is Smith’s dream home, a southwestern style miniature. “This is my dream house, but it’s a lot cheaper than having the real thing,” she laughs. Nearby is another work in progress, a seasonal Halloween haunted house, with some ghoulish dressed up skeletons within. She says they are called “Day of the Dead” figures, and explains it is a Mexican traditional three day event. “Most North Americans don’t understand it. They think, oh, how awful. But it isn’t, it’s a wonderful celebration of the lives of your ancestors.” It is not the somewhat sombre subject matter that is the appeal for Smith, but rather it is the creative aspect. “...I have more fun dressing those than doing anything, because the clothes don’t have to fit, that’s the beauty of it... .”

Upstairs there is a lot more to see, beginning with what one would expect from a former librarian, shelves upon shelves full of books, too numerous to count. Many of them are on the subject of teddy bears. This love of teddybears by Smith extends beyond the books, to stuffed bears of all shapes and sizes inhabiting various nooks and crannies and even entire rooms. What is it about teddy bears? Smith explains that during her early days as a librarian in Penticton, patrons were asked to bring their teddy bears in for a display and 53 people showed up. “I was surrounded by them (the bears) for a couple of months, and I just kind of went, oh, and before I knew it I had a collection.”

And then there’s the ever present Christmas tree in the living room. Yes, Christmas tree, standing there in all its glory, completely decorated with (what else?) teddy bears. “I warned you,” says Smith, about the many surprises in her home. She explains laughingly about the tree, “It’s been up about oh, six or seven years now. And I keep saying I’m going to take it down, and then I don’t get around to it. And it’s too close to Christmas to take it down now.”

The tree has gradually changed colours and is now the same colour as the walls. “It was a really white, white when it started, so now it’s gotten dusty and it matches the wall, I love it,” she observes, and plugs in its light to give a cheery feel to the room.

Smith is slowly but surely making the house into her own little museum. “I’ve been working on this for 40 years.” She jokes, “People have said I should put a bowl by the door for donations.”

Native American, Chinese, African displays sit beside each other in their glass walls, and among them is her special Egyptian miniature which was done early on.

“There was a boy that came through with his mother. He was about 12-years-old,” remembers Smith. “And he looked at it, and he said, “Look mom, it looks just like the British museum.” Smith was pleased, saying, “That’s exactly what I was trying to do!”

Smith shares her favourite miniature displays at a few shows every year that take place in Westbank and Vancouver. She also hosts monthly get-togethers of the South Okanagan Miniature Enthusiasts at her home every month. First started by Bette Moen, who once had a miniature store that was part of Tickleberry’s, Smith’s meetings attract about eight regular members from Okanagan Falls, Penticton and Oroville.

In these days of recycling and attention to the green issue, the club does its part to help that cause. “As far as the recycling goes, we’re working on some miniature teapots made out of the lids of detergent bottles,” says Smith. “And we use tic tac boxes. We made some of them into miniature aquariums. And they looked really cute.” Odd shaped lids and odd bits of plastic, drinking straws and bits of wire, nothing goes wasted.

Smith is still involved with Communities for Kids and reading to students at the local elementary school. And she has been downsizing her huge collection of teddy bears. “Just because I can’t display them all, and some of them should be played with,” she explains. “We use them as prizes for the Communities for Kids sometimes.” She also still takes her teddy bears to kindergarten classes, and says, “I have several big garbage bags. It sounds horrible... they travel in garbage bags and it does very little harm,” she says.

Although Smith has been surrounded by books throughout her library career, she has yet to write one of her own. But she does plan to write one in the future, probably a children’s book centering on the adventures of a family of bears. “They all live in my head,” she says. “They have their names and personalities and they’re all linked together.”

But for now, the enjoyment of creating miniatures and sharing them with others is never ending for Smith. “People say do you miss working? I have a one word answer, it’s no,” she laughs. “Too busy.”

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