About the Illustrator
Beverly-Jean Smith’s illustrations celebrate the complex beauty of ordinary people and their daily lives.
She imbues each work with a freshness and simplicity of design that delights the eye anew with each viewing.
A life-long resident of the Boston area, and dedicated student of the arts and art history, Smith received her Bachelor’s degree from Boston University and her Master’s from Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
She shared her love of the visual arts as a high school art teacher and director of the art department in Maynard, Massachusetts for many years.
About the Illustrations
The attorneys and staff at Shoffner & Associates have been representing small businesses and families for over twenty years. Our clients come from all walks of life and from near and far.
Our illustrator (full disclosure, she was my mother) and I worked to create a series of illustrations that reflect our client base as if they were all one family. We call them the Washington family and over the years, their story evolved.
It all started in 1974 in Saigon when Marine Captain Lincoln Washington fell in love with Nguyen Thi Kim. After the war, they moved back to Linc’s family home in Dorchester, Massachusetts and started their life together.
Mr. & Mrs. Washington had four children: Danh Nguyen Washington (Danny), Bian Nguyen Washington (Bambi), Tran Nguyen Washington, and Mai Nguyen Washington. Mr. Washington began his career in software engineering in the days of Fortran and COBOL. He was soon able to go out on his own as a consultant to some of the largest “128” companies. The family prospered and eventually moved to a large home on Meriam Hill in Lexington.
Danny followed his father into the military reaching the rank of Captain in the Marine Corps at the time of his death in Afghanistan in 2010. Bambi is an architect with her own firm, Tran’s Café is one of the hottest spots in Boston’s Seaport District, and Mai’s fashion designs are seen on all the red carpets.
Danny’s wife and daughter live in Lexington now. Bambi’s husband, Ken, is running Sullivan Auto Sales on Route 1 in Norwood having taken over for his father, and Mai’s wife, Ruth, is a residential real estate broker with offices in Chestnut Hill and Weston.
Now retired, Mr. & Mrs. Washington established a not-for-profit in early 2011 to serve spouses and children of soldiers and contractors killed in the line of duty.
A truly American (if fictitious family), the Washington family members keep their lawyers very busy — in a good way.