The Program:  Times were desperate for many folks during the 1930s.  The Norfolk economy, which had boomed during the 1920s, crashed during the 1930s with unemployment reaching 25% of the population.  It was probably worse within the African-American community.    As a response to the national malaise, President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted the New Deal.  One of the agencies tasked with the goal of getting the nation working and the economy growing was the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

 

Fred Huette, a local horticulturalist, became the head of Norfolk’s park system in 1936.   Looking to the South, Charleston, South Carolina, was able to attract thousands of visitors annually even during the depths of the Great Depression.  Knowing that Norfolk’s climate and soil would support azaleas, Huette began the movement to create the Norfolk Botanical Garden.

 

The garden was created by African-Americans, 200  women and 20 men, who were simply known as the “planters.”   Our speaker, Martha McClenny Williams, explained that these women were not accurately portrayed in the local newspapers and were never identified by name.   Beginning in 1938, these 200 women  armed with shovels, rakes, hoes, and wheelbarrows began to turn the swamp land next to the Norfolk airport into the garden.  They worked through the heat of the summer and the bitter cold of the winter.  They fought the insects and the rodents and snakes.  They brought in by wheelbarrow the equivalent of 150 dump truck loads of soil.   Slowly but surely, the garden began to take shape. 

 

To support the effort, Norfolk received $276,278 in funding from the WPA.  The women earned 25 cents per hour for their backbreaking work.   Transportation to and from the site was provided by the City of Norfolk.  If they missed the transportation, the women would walk the five or so miles on the “Cottage Toll Road” (Tidewater Drive and Azalea Garden Road) to the Garden.  By March 1939, the had women planted 4,000 azaleas, 2,000 rhododendrons, and 2,000 camellias.  Some of the azaleas in the gardens planted in the first year are now 85 years old.

 

The story of the “planters” wasn’t known even by the planters families.  Contrary to what was published in the newspaper, these women were often accomplished and did what they had to do to support their families during the difficult depression years.  Their tales and identity would be lost forever had it not been for the efforts of a class at Ruffner Middle School who located one of the “planters.”  Slowly but surely, other planters have been identified.

 

Mrs. Williams told us some of the identity and tales of these women.  The oldest “planter” still with us is Mary Elizabeth Ferguson who is now 97 years old.  Her daughter and son-in-law joined us for the meeting.  Edna George was known as “Baby” as she was the youngest planter.  The oldest planter was Ethel Johnson.  Sally T. Austin was a storyteller and a teacher.   Later she became a supervisor of a food service    Mrs. Harris was a seamstress. 

 

The garden was completed in 1942.  The women did not have the opportunity to visit the garden for many years as it was open only to whites.  Many of the women had no interest in visiting as it brought back bad memories.  

 

Today, Norfolk Botanical Garden has embraced the contributions of these previously overlooked contributors to the fabric of the City of Norfolk.  There is a statue of the planters in the Garden and at the entrance there is a tall, large sculpture of intertwining of hoes, rakes, and shovels at the entrance to the Garden on Azalea Garden Road.  Our speaker, Mrs. Williams, has written a book about the lives of these women, WPA Original Gardeners, which is available on Amazon.com.

 

Chuck Spence and Frank Whitman paid tribute to Robert Burns whose birthday was January 21 with the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.”   We also sang the book slapper, “Grand Old Flag.”  Julie Keesling lead the innovation. 

 

Visitation Report . Fred Walker updated the Club about Bill Burnette who took a fall which caused a serious brain injury.  Bill spent 14 days in intensive care.  He will soon be at Harbor’s Edge for some rehab.  His speech is returning.  Jean Owens continues to recover from a broken arm.

 

Visitors:  Joel Heaton introduced the many guests at the meeting. 

·         Nancy Chandler brought her son, John Chandler.

·         Michael Desplaines brought Betsy Murphy, Bruce Williams, Helen Williams, and Aidel McCory.  All are involved in a diversity committee at Norfolk Botanical Garden.  Bruce and Helen Williams are the son-in-law and daughter of Mary Elizabeth Ferguson, one of the original planters.

·         Chuck Spence brought Louise Lopez-Garcia

·         Sheila Mabry is a potential new member.

 

·         The generosity of Skip Burton to the Rotary Foundation was acknowledged.  He is now a Paul Harris Fellow + 7.

·         New member ballots for Craig Reilly and Maureen Gowen.

·         There was a condolence card for the family of Past President Clyde  Hill.

·         Norfolk Rotary Charities has received 67 applications for our 2017 grants.

 

·         We celebrated the February birthdays of Cynthia Carter-West, Rick Coradi, Bill Eisenbeiss, Jerry Friedman, Steve M. Jones (the CPA), Kay Kemper, Bob Latimer, and Fred Walker.

·         Bernie Cohen announced an open house at PrimePlus on March 2.

·         Chuck Spence has a new grandchild—his 11^th (and 3^rd granddaughter).

·         Edna Kolovani announced an alliance between TCC and ODU for a degree in cyber-security.

·         Lois Kercher gave a shout out to Greg Bockheim for a ride home after an ODU game when the weather outside had made walking home dangerous.

·         Dyteya Lewis contributed for Mary Ferguson (one of the planters) and PrimePlus.

·         Jim O’Brien’s daughter, Irene, gave a presentation on charitable giving to the PrimePlus board.  It was like old home week as many board members are members of the club.

·         Bill Gresham’s son, Thomas, is heading Gresham Steel, a new division of E. T. Gresham. 

·         Winston Whitehurst contributed happy bucks for our speaker Martha Williams.  She was one of the few African-Americans in graduate school when Winston was earning his PhD at Virginia Tech.

 

The book, The Perfect Tree” will be going Fairlawn Elementary School in honor of our speaker.  Bob Powell was the winner of the weekly raffle and took home $16.  He failed to draw the Queen of Spades so the $457 in the big pot remains until next week.  Tables 6 and 15 had perfect attendance and are eligible for a free raffle ticket next week.