Obituary: Pauline Y. Smith

Pauline Y. “Polly” Smith, of Locke, New York – who lived on Grand Island for 50 years, becoming widely familiar in WNY as the wife of journalist Doug Smith – passed away quietly at home on Sept. 23, 2024. She was 88.

Born Dec. 8, 1935, in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, Polly was preceded in death by both parents – Hazel (Titel) Young and George Young – and by her husband, Douglas M. Smith.

Graduating in 1955 from Bloomsburg Area High School, Polly had already begun working as a linotype operator for the Bloomsburg Morning Press. There, she met Doug, who was employed as a reporter; they married in 1959.

In ensuing years, the couple lived in Jamestown, New York; Warren, Pennsylvania; and Northeast, Pennsylvania. Doug and Polly eventually settled on Grand Island in 1966 – where they lived first on Alt Boulevard, and then at two addresses on Hennepin Road.

During their five decades on the Island, Doug was a popular newspaper journalist and television personality in Western New York. Among his best-known gigs was the “Cheap Gourmet,” a facetiously stingy restaurant critic for the Buffalo Courier-Express and later WIVB-TV. Under the moniker “Mrs. C.G.,” Polly accompanied Doug on nearly all meal forays, and they eventually published three books on budget dining, distributing 15,000 copies.

Doug and Polly enjoyed family, pets, baseball, diners, movies, hospitality and especially travel, with destinations that included Wales, Alaska, London, the Caribbean, Prince Edward Island and Czechoslovakia. In 1999, they drove the entire length of U.S. Route 62, from Niagara Falls to El Paso. Many of these trips and other adventures are included in “The Best of Doug Smith,” published in 2022.

Doug retired from Buffalo-area writing in 2016, and the couple settled in Cortland, where they observed their 57th wedding anniversary before Doug’s passing in 2017.

Polly and Doug are survived by their children: Joseph W. Smith III (GIHS Class of 1978) and his wife, Mona, of Montoursville, Pennsylvania; and Holly M. Jaquith (GIHS Class of 1982) and her husband, Dan, of Locke – with whom Polly had lived since Doug’s death; also by grandchildren Doug and Tim Smith and Nicole and Clark Jaquith, along with three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at Zirbel Funeral Home in Groton, New York, at 4 p.m. Oct. 17.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to: Cortland SPCA (www.cortlandspca.org); Hospice of Central New York & Hospice of the Finger Lakes (www.hospicecny.org/); or Groton Legion Post 800 (grotonlegionpost800.org).