Paintings of Ethel Akert Smith Midgley
(1897-1990)
Ethel Olga Akert was born in 1897 in Murray, Utah.  After the death of her parents, she was taken into the foster care and eventually adopted by Cyrus and Grace Neff of the East Mill Creek area of Salt Lake City.  In 1918 she married Edwin Woodruff Smith.  Widowed in 1960, she married Thomas Cordon Midgley in 1963.  She passed away in 1990.  Ethel painted as a pasttime while raising nine children.  Throughout her long life, she specialized in rural and sometimes fanciful scenes rendered in water color, often featuring the twin peaks of Utah's Mt. Olympus as seen from her front window of her long-time homes at 4644 and 4650 South 1300 East, in East Mill Creek south of Salt Lake City.  She took up the study of and acrylic techniques at about the age of 65. She lived in both Southern and Northern Utah. Her works reflect the varied scenery of the Wasatch Range and desert around the Western Rocky Mountains. Her water color and acrylic paintings have won blue ribbon awards at the Utah State Fair.



Mount Olympus seen by Big Cottonwood Creek
(Oil 18"x24" 1975)
Doug & Machele Smith Carbine collection


Old Mill Creek in Winter
(Watercolor "18x24")
Doug & Machele Smith Carbine collection

Postcards in Watercolor
Doug & Machele Smith Carbine Collection

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Postcards in Watercolor
Sue & Ken Allen Collection

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Tree in the High Country
John & Kathryn Allen Bright collection


Mountain Lake
John & Kathryn Allen Bright collection


Twin Peaks in Winter
John & Kathryn Allen Bright collection


Mountain Home
John & Kathryn Allen Bright collection


The Old Barn on the Family Farm with view of Mt. Olympus
(oil)
Mary Grace A. Wade collection


Monterey Bay, California
Mary Grace A. Wade collection


Morning Fog under the Mountain
Mary Grace A. Wade collection


Autumn in the Wasatch
Mary Grace A. Wade collection


Wasatch Stream in the Summer
(oil)
Mary Grace A. Wade collection


Old Mill at Mouth of Little Cottonwood 
Canyon, Salt Lake Valley
(oil)
Mary Grace A. Wade collection


Winter Home in the Valley
Mary Grace A. Wade collection


Mountain Home in Winter
Mary Grace A. Wade collection

Albert Smith Family Home
on 3rd East in Salt Lake City, Utah
Mary Grace A. Wade collection
 


Winter Home in Kamas Valley
(1951)
Mary Grace A. Wade collection
 


Ghost Town in Southern Utah
Mary Grace A. Wade collection
 


Family Cabin 
Scott & Terry Allen collection
 


Sheaves and Home
Scott & Terry Allen collection


Early Snow on Twin Peaks
(Oil 11" x 16" 1968)
Sue & Ken Allen Collection 
from Betty Akert Brown


Twin Peaks and Mountain Lake
(Oil 14" x 18" 1970)
Sue & Ken Allen collection


Cottonwood Creek in Winter 
(~1950 watercolor)
Sue & Ken Allen collection


Cottonwood Creek
Kaye Smith collection


Path through Aspen and Pine
(oil)
Kaye Smith collection


Path through Aspen and Pine
(same as above with different lighting)
Kaye Smith collection


Aspen Path
(oil)
Kaye Smith collection


Country Road in John's Valley near Widsoe, Utah (1956)
Kaye Smith collection

Note: About 1956 David and Gerrie T. Smith traveled with their parents Ethel and Ed Smith to Southern Utah, driving along this road in John's Valley near Widsoe. The road that led to Gerrie's uncle's ranch turned off the main road. At the turn were cabins similar to these, where the Steed family, a polygamist group, lived. Whenever people drove by, the children all ran to hide, leaving the homes looking as if no one lived there. The families have since moved back up the canyon into new and beautiful homes.