Shelley Taylor Smith

The Hillcrest Chalk Fairy

Farewell To An Anonymous Friend

On March 24, beloved Hillcrest resident Shelley Taylor Smith passed away. I am reliably advised that she died unexpectedly in her sleep. If her name isn’t ringing a bell for you, perhaps you knew as her alter ego, the Hillcrest Chalk Fairy, bringer of joyous and whimsical graffiti to the sidewalks of our neighborhood.

While she wouldn’t agree to be interviewed, she described herself thusly: She is an anonymous creature that flies by night, under the cover of darkness, spreading words of(sometimes) wisdom and hoping to, at least, make someone smile the next day.” Good enough.

The example of her handiwork we ran on the cover the 2017 Holiday Issue (Hillcrest Newsletter) was typical of what the HCF put down. Handwritten in hot pink chalk, it reminds the reader that “It only takes a moment to make a stranger smile. #HCF.” What’s not to love about that?

The HCF is deeply mourned by many folks in the Hillcrest neighborhood that she loved and by the local arts community. It is always sad thing when a delightful soul like Shelley Taylor Smith, is no longer with us. And as for me, I don’t have much reason to look at the sidewalks around here anymore.

Arthur Paul Bowen