The walls of their Villa home tell their story – displaying mementos of Mel Smokler’s career, Olga’s oil paintings and lovely views of her home city where they met.
Mel grew up in a Boston suburb and was in the Army from 1942 to 1946, serving in Africa and Italy. In Florence at the end of the war he met Olga at a Red Cross center. An office colleague had invited her to the Center one day to help teach American soldiers to dance. ("He couldn’t dance a step," she laughs.) Culturally, he could not visit her at home until they were planning marriage; when he did approach her father, he spoke in Italian!
Olga tells a poignant story about her brother, taken as a political WWII prisoner to Germany. When the war ended he traversed the Alps on foot to return to Florence. He planned to have a friend inform his family of his arrival; but as he made his way toward home he was spotted and joyfully embraced by a sister who had been walking, by chance, on the other side of the street.
Engaged to Olga, Mel returned home when his mother became ill, and stayed to start college. (His Bachelor’s degree is from George Washington University in D.C., his Master’s from UCLA.) A year later, with her family’s blessing, Olga arrived on St. Patrick’s Day, lived briefly with Mel’s family, and they were married within a couple of weeks. They had a daughter, Florence, a teacher and pianist, who died of cancer at age 27. Their son is a doctor of environmental science, and they treasure a granddaughter, 18, and grandson, 12.
Mel’s career as an engineer took him to the Jet Propulsion Lab near Pasadena, where he worked mostly in imaging (the television pictures which document space exploration) from 1964 to 1987. Photos on his office wall include the "foot" of the Surveyor landing craft, a composite of the adjacent moon surface, and a retirement photo of Mel standing beside an immense solar panel.
Olga’s talents lie in languages and art. In the U.S. she made good use of her native language by teaching Italian for twenty-five years with the Berlitz School of Languages – her better-known students included Robert Reed, Goldie Hawn (well, for one day) and Richard Crenna. Three large, Modigliani-style portraits enhance one living room wall, products of one of the several art classes Olga has completed.
At UVTO, Olga participates in fitness and Tai Chi classes, runs with the Rabbits and is a coordinator for the Art Guild. Mel enjoys reading from his library of books in Italian, and watching his collection of Italian language, and other, movies. He also helps Olga on the computer when needed. Obviously still devoted after 63 years of marriage, Olga and Mel typify so many University Village couples as respected and Noteworthy Neighbors.