Michael Desplaines was introduced by his former (corporate) next-door neighbor, Wayne Shank. Mike became the CEO of the Norfolk Botanical Garden in June 2014. Previously, he was the first executive director of Castle in the Clouds, a 16-room mansion on 5,500 acres in New Hampshire.  He will graduate with a masters degree in historic preservation this May.

 

Although Michael joined Rotary when he became the CEO for Norfolk Botanical Garden, his first exposure to Rotary was when he worked for the “Y” and did a Rotary project “Friends Forever.”  He also was on a Rotary Group Study Exchange to India.

 

Norfolk Botanical Garden is a unique property of 175 acres bounded on three sides by water with 12 miles of paths that wander through 52 different focus gardens. The Garden has one of the largest camellia collections in the nation and the Bicentennial Rose Garden is the largest on the East Coast. The roses should be in full bloom at our Suds & Buds event on May 13.

 

The Garden started as a WPA project during the Great Depression. City leaders thought that an azalea garden could be a tourist attraction and received a $75,000 grant from the federal government to help build the gardens. The back-breaking work of clearing and planting the original garden was done by a cadre of African-American women, one of whom, Mary Ferguson, is still living. Their efforts are recognized by a statue in the gardens which was dedicated for the Garden’s 75^th anniversary.

 

Isaac M. and Sarah Lee Baker were passionate about the Garden and were essential to its development of the Garden. Although Norfolk Botanical Garden had a small endowment, the Baker's gift of nearly $10 million through their estate was transformative.  Today the endowment is about $15 million.

 

Statuary Vista consists of eight Sir Moses Ezekiel statues.  Ezekiel, a Richmond native, was a Jewish sculptor who while studying at Virginia Military Institute joined other cadets at the Battle of New Market. His memorial, Virginia Mourning Her Dead, at VMI honors the 10 VMI cadets killed at the Battle of New Market.  In the 1880s, Ezekiel sculpted 14 statues of famous artists for external niches at the Concoran Gallery of Arts.  In the 1960s, these statues were removed and gifted with 11 of the statues coming to the Garden.  Two statues are at the Chrysler Museum while the final statue is at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.  After having been exposed to the elements for 80 or so years, the statues were in terrible shape. 

Norfolk Botanical Garden initiated a campaign with a goal of $550,000 that has restored the statues and preserved them and renovated the garden area. 

 

The December Garden of Lights has been a long[standing tradition at Norfolk Botanical Gardens.  USAToday and Inside Edition nominated the Garden of Lights to their Top 20 list…and online voting nationwide took the Gardens to the 8^th spot in the country.

 

 

After the “centennial” bell was rung, we were led in singing by Lynne Berg, in prayer by Skip Burton, and in the Pledge by President Sally.  President Sally bid Jack Hornbeck a fond farewell. Jack is moving to Colorado to be close to a grandchild. Jack is an avid motorcycle rider and has earned the “iron butt” award for having ridden 1,000 miles in a single day.

 

 

We were delighted to see John Chittick who has been on the “out of commission” report.

 

 

The daily raffle was won by Frank Graves who did not draw the Queen of Spades.