Sondra Smith and John Doriot
Retirement Reimagined
story by HEATHER STEINBERGER photos by SUSAN DELOACH
On the little wooden porch behind Marshview Mercantile, two friends sit together in the spring sunshine. They gaze across the marsh, they reminisce, and they laugh together easily, the way old friends do.
They have been friends for a long time, long enough to effortlessly finish each other’s sentences. Thirty years ago, Sondra Smith and John Doriot met at a hospital in Augusta, Georgia. Both young professionals were in the early years of their healthcare careers, and they forged a bond that would weather the storms of both work and life.
They celebrated each other’s retirement, when it came. And they shared each other’s delight when that retirement proved to be the catalyst for second careers, the fulfillment of dreams and a reimagining of what life could be.
Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Sondra studied physical therapy at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. She took a position at Doctors Hospital in the city, where she says she moved from the bedside to administration.
“I got involved in strategy and operations,” Sondra explains. “At the time, John was director of the lab.”
“She was my boss for a short period of time,” says John, who grew up in Bristol, Tennessee, and graduated from the University of Tennessee. “We became friends. That was probably 1996. We went through a lot of change together at that hospital.”
“It really bonded our friendship,” Sondra says, nodding. “We were young, growing, working hard, rolling with the punches.”
“I was running 25 departments at one time,” John adds. “It was a significant challenge in my career. It was nice to have a friend to rely on and talk to.”
The colleagues discovered they shared a passion for customer service. As Sondra explains, patients are already unhappy because they are in the hospital, so she and John understood the importance of making the experience as positive as possible.
“We taught customer service classes to new hires for years,” she says. “Part of that was teaching service recovery — when things go wrong, how to get them back on track.”
Seven years ago, John announced he was ready to retire after 40 years in healthcare. Sondra asked him what he planned to do with his newfound free time.
The answer? He was going to fulfill his dream of becoming a published author.
“All those years, I never knew he was a writer,” Sondra marvels.
“I’ve been writing since the second grade,” John says with a grin. “My father was an avid reader, and I credit him with my being a writer. Early on, I loved Dr. Suess and wanted to him!” Then he introduced me to Edgar Allan Poe, and I wanted to be him!
“As soon as I retired, my brain exploded,” he continues. “All the medical stuff just blew away, and I could not write fast enough. My mind never stops. I have so many new ideas, I’ll never be able to do them all in my lifetime.”
Between 2022 and 2024, John won six Georgia Independent Author Awards for his poetry, short stories, science fiction, and work in the horror/thriller genre. He has published 15 books to date, with a sixteenth coming soon, and he has done all of this himself.
“Years ago, self-publishing meant vanity publishing,” John says. “Now, you can be very successful as an independent author if you know what to do.”
“He’s a gardener too,” Sondra says. “He raised bonsai trees for a long time.”
“It was kind of insane,” John remarks, shaking his head. “I had more than 100 at the height of my madness. It was too much, so I got rid of them. I still enjoy gardening, though, writing and gardening.”
While John was launching his publishing career from his Augusta home, Sondra continued her work in healthcare. She left Augusta in 2018 and moved to Hilton Head Island, where she took the position of chief strategy officer for Hilton Head Regional Healthcare.
“I thought, this is where I’ll work until I retire,” she remembers. “But HCA Healthcare, the parent company, asked me to move to Asheville to work in strategy and planning. So I did.”
That was April 2020. Sondra went through the Covid pandemic in western North Carolina, serving as Mission Health’s division vice president for strategy and planning for more than four years. But the tide was already turning.
“We bought a house here in Beaufort in 2021, and came down for weekends and holidays,” she says. “We knew it would be our forever home.”
In April 2024, Sondra retired after 36 years in the healthcare field. That retirement would prove to be short-lived.
“Before I stopped working, I’d been thinking, what can I do now?” she reflects. “I was still relatively young. I thought about volunteering, other businesses. Then I saw this mercantile was for sale. I had shopped here when the previous owner ran it, and I loved it. So, lightning struck.”
Sondra bought the store. She retired, moved to Beaufort on April 8, and opened Marshview Mercantile at 2631 Boundary Street on April 15.
“It was the shortest retirement ever,” she says. “It was pretty crazy.”
When asked about his reaction to Sondra’s new venture, John’s eyes twinkle.
“I said, when are you going to stock my books?” he jokes. “Actually, my wife told me about it. She said, you’re not going to believe this!”
Running a mercantile was a natural fit for Sondra. Over the years, she reveled in organizing parties and women’s events, particularly during her time in Asheville, and couldn’t wait to channel her interests and her passion for building community into this new enterprise.
Marshview Mercantile is a seamless blend of general store and lifestyle boutique. Its cozy rooms, deep shelves, and thoughtfully arranged tables overflow with unique treasures, and a warm, welcoming Lowcountry vibe encourages that most popular of pastimes: visiting.
“Many of our customers are locals, and they come in on a regular basis,” Sondra says. “I get to meet their visitors, we talk about family and what is going on in their lives, and they add notes to our prayer box. We are so blessed.”
“They especially love my books,” John notes thoughtfully as Sondra laughs.
She does indeed carry his poetry and children’s books. Particular favorites are stories about Oreo, the 15-year-old black-and-white dog that he says is “part beagle and part of my heart.”
In addition to on-trend items from markets near and far, Sondra stocks items from local artists and craftspeople. She also offers art classes with guest instructors at least three times per month, which range from beach glass art and jewelry making to painting and Gullah sweetgrass basket weaving.
“I love to spotlight local artists and businesses,” she says. “In April, local artist Carol Sanders will teach a painting class that uses sand from Hunting Island, and we’ll have another sweetgrass basket class with sixth-generation Gullah basket weaver Andrea Jefferson. I’m still working on the lineup. And, in May, we’ll have an event to celebrate our second birthday.”
Delicious snacks are prominently featured in the mercantile as well. They include dips, jellies, no-bake cheesecake, soups, teas, and more.
On this particular day, a local home baker delivered a batch of special treats for Sondra to add to her store’s wares. Called Pluff Mud Brownies, they contain chocolate chunks, caramel melts, and marshmallows, and Sondra says they were still warm from the oven when they arrived.
“Meg from Meg’s Sweet Treats created them just for Marshview Mercantile,” Sondra says. “They’re so decadent, and they start a whole conversation about what pluff mud is. It’s another way of building community.”
Customers have responded. In its first year of operation, the mercantile earned a gold award as the Lowcountry’s Best Gift Shop and a silver award for Best Boutique and Women’s Clothing in 2024.
Sondra says she expects to stock John’s newest book as soon as it’s available in April. His fifth book about Oreo and his sixteenth book overall, it is titled “Oreo and Joan Find their Way Home.” It features John’s 2-year-old granddaughter.
“All my stories have elements of my life,” John says.
“I was a character in one of his first books,” Sondra interjects. “A detective!”
“You were secretary to an FBI agent,” John says.
“Oh, wow, I’ve just been demoted!”
The lighthearted banter continues. Their spouses stop by, laughing along with the stories and volunteering the occasional detail. A cheerful Oreo keeps an eye on everyone, wearing a friendly beagle smile.
It is clear, as life rolls onward, that Sondra and John remain fixtures in each other’s lives. It is just as obvious that they are thriving in their reimagined retirement years.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” Sondra says fondly, looking at John. He nods and smiles.
Now, it’s time to get back to work. They will be cheering each other on, every step of the way.
To learn more about Marshview Mercantile, visit marshviewmercantile.com. For information about John Doriot and his books, visit oreodoriotbooks.com.
