{"id":357971,"date":"2026-07-30T19:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T19:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/357971\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T19:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T19:53:09","slug":"from-caregiver-to-restaurateur-eunice-smith-marks-89-years-of-service-free-press-of-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/357971\/","title":{"rendered":"From Caregiver to Restaurateur, Eunice Smith Marks 89 Years of Service \u2013 Free Press of Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785436567166blob-678x381.png\" alt=\"\" title=\"1785436567166blob\"\/><br \/>\nHonoree Eunice Smith with her celebration cake<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-95013\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785436567166blob-225x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\"  \/>Honoree Eunice Smith with her celebration cake<\/p>\n<p>Family and friends gathered recently to celebrate the 89th birthday of Jacksonville matriarch Eunice Smith,\u00a0 honoring a life marked by resilience, entrepreneurship and decades of service to the community.<\/p>\n<p>The celebration was held at the Mary Singleton Senior Center, where Smith remains an active volunteer, continuing her lifelong comittment to helping others.<\/p>\n<p>Born July 24, 1937, in Valdosta, Georgia, Smith moved to Jacksonville at age 12.\u00a0 She attended LaVilla Grammar School and graduated from Matthew W. Gilbert High School before earning a nursing assistant certification from the former College of Medical Arts on Church Street in downtown Jacksonville.<\/p>\n<p>She devoted more than 20 years to caring for others as a nursing assistant before pursuing her passion for cooking and hospitality.<\/p>\n<p>In 1980s she and her late husband, Hoover Smith, opened E&amp;H Restaurant at 1479 Myrtle Avenue. where they served homemade soul food and welcomed generations of Jacksonville residents for 14 years. The restaurant became known not for only its home-style cooking but also for the warm hospitality the couple extended to customers. Smith and her husband shared 18 years of marriage and raised five children.<\/p>\n<p>Today, she enjoys the support of a growing family that includes children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom gathered to celebrate her milestone birthday and the legacy she has built.<\/p>\n<p>A longtime member of Eastside Church of Christ and former member of the Order of the Eastern Star Elizabeth Chapter, Smith has remained active in civic and faith-based service throughout her life.<\/p>\n<p>At 89, Smith continues to inspire family, friends and neighbors through her volunteerism, generosity and unwavering dedication to serving her community, demonstrating that a life rooted in faith, hard work and compassion leaves a lasting impact across generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Honoree Eunice Smith with her celebration cake Honoree Eunice Smith with her celebration cake Family and friends gathered&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-357971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}