Marcy Smith, who walked away from a career
in television soap operas to become director of children's ministries at a Cornelius
church, will speak at Carolina Home and Garden Show in Hickory on Saturday.
Smith, who acted under the name of Marcy
Walker, still gets recognized regularly as Liza Colby of "All My Children,"
where she began as a confused kid in 1981 and grew up to become a vixen by the time she
left the show in 2004.
"Santa Barbara" loyalists still
love her as good-girl Eden Capwell Castillo from the 1980s, even though the soap was
canceled. To "Guiding Light" fans, she'll always be Tangie Hill, the woman with
the mysterious past.
But after years of filling fans'
afternoons with lust and intrigue, and getting the fame and other perks that go with it,
Smith began yearning for more.
She became active at Hope Evangelical Free
Church in Wilton, Conn., teaching children in Sunday school, helping with vacation Bible
school, and starting to see another side to her life.
She left "All My Children" in 2004. Her character, Liza, snatched her daughter
and ran away, never to be seen again except in flashbacks.
Having already risen to the job of
director of children's ministry at her Connecticut church while continuing to act, she
knew what she wanted to do full time.
Then she learned about an attractive job
opening: A young, fast-growing congregation in north Mecklenburg County with a heart for
drawing people back to church was seeking someone to work with its children.
Smith will be at the Carolina Home and
Garden Show at 2 p.m. Saturday, at the Hickory Metro Convention Center. She will speak
about the role parents play in the development of their child's faith. Admission to the
show is $5, $4 for senior citizens. |
