This article continues to celebrate the women who contributed to the beauty of our town and developed new traditions in their effort to beautify the city of Parsons and who led the Mountaineer Garden Club into the future.
A busy, young mother in the mid 60s, Donna Lambert Schoonover, became interested in the recently federated garden club when invited to attend a meeting by Nina Buchanan in 1963. She met many young women from her church and community. The garden club, which met at members’ homes, offered her socialization with the women and provided her an outlet for her artistic talents. Donna held many positions within the club, including secretary and vice president.
The club was only about six years old when Donna became president and remembers the learning curve for protocol was very steep. To improve her knowledge, she attended many state and district meetings, where qualified speakers from around the state exchanged gardening information and were kept informed of state and national expectations for local clubs. At the local club level, Donna recalled that Mary Hartman, a florist in Elkins, was very informative about care of cut flowers and Donna continues to use this information today. Another speaker was a Japanese lady who taught the club how to arrange flowers in the Japanese style. In ikebana, which means living flowers, practitioners place flowers and leaves artfully in a vase, bowl, basket, or basin, taking care to emphasize not only the bloom of each flower, but also the line and form of stems, leaves, and buds.
Donna also enjoyed designing the front page of the annual yearbook because it challenged her to use her imagination and artistic talents. The planting of trees on Arbor Day, as well as the Christmas Flower Show at the Tucker County bank, and the live flower show in conjunction with the Tucker County Fair Association forms the background for her memories during her 20 years of membership. Donna commented the club added so much to life by involvement in local community efforts for beautification, community service and the importance of our stewardship of the earth.
The Mountaineer Garden Club will hold a celebration of 60 years’ service to the community on Thursday Sept. 6 at Piccolo Paula’s from 4-6 p.m. Public invited to attend. Refreshments will be served.
