“The journey began at Howard,” said Kenneth Smith (BS ’75) during the Reunion Luncheon on May 9, held as a part of Howard’s Golden Reunion Weekend activities. While the journey was of course one of academic exploration and excellence for the chemistry major, it was also one of finding love — thanks to a hotplate. 

“I get this knock on the door and this person comes up and says, ‘I’m returning your hotplate’” said Dr. Gerri Cannon-Smith (BS, ’75). Some friends in the Meridian Hill Hall Dormitory had borrowed the portable cooking device, and the young man had offered to return it. “I said thank you,” said Cannon-Smith. “She closed the door!” continued Smith, laughing. He was, admittedly, taken aback by her beauty. “She took the hotplate, closed the door and I just stood there looking, he said. “I saw a very beautiful young woman.”

He knew he had to figure out a way to see her again, and so he went to his friends Eddie and Reggie and “begged” them to help him make his way back to her door. “I don’t care what you do, you gotta get me back there!” he said, laughing again. “And they did.” 

The friends borrowed the prohibited hotplate for a second time, and Smith didn’t waste the opportunity, returning it and striking up a conversation with the young woman who made such a lasting impression on him in mere moments. Noting that there was of course “much more to it than that,” the chance October meeting between two freshmen — both from Mississippi — was just the beginning of a Howard University love story that would result in the couple marrying in 1976. 

Dr. Cannon-Smith was a pre-med Zoology major, and therefore the would-be couple did have a few classes together, like comparative anatomy, and would otherwise see each other on campus. When asked if it was love at first sight for her, she said, “I’d seen him around and thought he was cute, but I wasn’t interested in approaching at that time.” But something about the magic of the hotplate seemed to change all that, as the two dated during their entire academic career, though both admitted they went through the ups and downs of any other couple. “Oh, breakups happened for sure,” laughed Dr. Cannon-Smith.  

The couple, who will also celebrate 50 years of marriage next year, would go on to have successful careers in medicine (Dr. Cannon-Smith was awarded the Alton B. Cobb Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mississippi Public Health Association earlier this year, for example) and engineering, and become the parents to two daughters. Their youngest would follow in her parent’s footsteps, also attending Howard University and Howard Law School, while her sister went to Clark Atlanta University and the University of Texas. 

When asked what it meant to be back on the yard where their journey began, both expressed happiness and gratitude.

Though Smith wasn’t “on fire” about attending the weekend’s events due to the engineer’s still heavy workload, the trip to DC has proved worth it so far (not to mention the opportunity to see the couple’s first grandchild). “I’ve really enjoyed seeing different people — these are not the same teenagers, early-twenties people,” he laughed, as “time marches on.” He’s especially enjoyed getting to connect with members of his class and beyond. “To just talk to them, and hear their stories, is fascinating, and it all started here.” 

“It’s incredible,” added Dr. Cannon-Smith on being back at the university five decades after graduation. “50 years ago, it’s hard to even look forward to see this day, but looking back, we see the foundation that was laid in terms of the historical context, cultural legacy, and the legacy continuing, which is so important as well. And of course, our family started here.”

During the luncheon, alumni from the class of 1975 “passed the torch” to the class of 2025, represented by the 64th Howard University Student Association Executive President Jay Jones. When asked for words of advice for Jones and her classmates, Dr. Cannon-Smith said to “strive for excellence,” and never “accept complacency,” noting that the community must also use its “legacy of resources” to help make opportunities for others. “I think that’s even more important in this particular era. We’ve been in this position before and one of the things we need to do is get back to our roots,” she said. “It’s important for us to make our own opportunities.”