Mimi Smith

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Mary Elizbeth "Mimi" Smith, (née Stanley, 1903 - 6 December 1992) was the maternal aunt of English musician John Lennon. Lennon lived with his aunt Mimi and her husband George Toogood Smith for the majority of his childhood. She is recognised for her influence on Lennon as a Mother figure.

Mimi Smith was Julia Lennon's elder sister. She left home at 19 to become a resident trainee nurse at a local convalescent hospital. On 15 September 1939, she married dairyman George Smith, who had been courting her for 10 years. She went on to become sister-in-charge of a ward of mentally handicapped patients. Later she became a private secretary to a local businessman. With no children of their own, Mimi and George took on the responsibility of raising the infant Lennon when his father left and Julia was unable to care for him on her own.

Lennon was raised at "Mendips", 251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton, in middle class environment (often cited as contradictory to Lennon's "Working Class Hero" image). Although Mimi was loving, she was also famed for being strict, compared to the more relaxed influence of Julia and George. George was very fond of Lennon, and it was George who taught the four year old Lennon to read by reading out loud the headlines of the Liverpool Echo. He also taught John to draw and paint and bought him his first mouth organ. The deaths of George (1955) and Julia (1958) had a big impact on both Mimi and John Lennon and seemed to bring the two closer together.

Mimi was against the idea of Lennon forming a band. She was upset when she walked into the Cavern Club one luchtime and saw Lennon performing with an early incarnation of The Beatles, and she did not approve of George Harrison when she first met him. Biographer Phillip Norman claimed this was the first time Lennon saw Harrison with respect rather than as an annoying child. However it was Mimi who bought Lennon his first proper guitar after he pestered her incessantly for weeks. She thought he would grow bored of it and famously said: "Music's alright John, but you'll never make a living out of it." Lennon and Mimi would later joke about this.

But when The Beatles became successful and Lennon was making a very good living he took care of Mimi. He bought her a £25,000 bungalow in 1965 - Harbour View, 126 Panorama Road, Poole, Dorset which was to be Mimi's home for the rest of her life. He also gave her his MBE, which took pride of place on her mantel until Lennon requested she give it back to him so that he could famously return it in protest. Mimi was staunchly against this act.

Lennon moved to New York in 1971, never returning to England. Despite losing touch with several family members, he kept in close contact with Mimi and telephoned her every week. Three days before Lennon was murdered, on December 8th, 1980 he called Mimi to say he was homesick and planning a trip back to England soon. After his death, Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon visited her and Mimi was delighted to finally meet her grandnephew.

Mimi died at home on 6 December 1992.