The 60th anniversary of the Mountaineer Garden Club will be celebrated on September 6 from 4-6 p.m. at Piccolo Paula’s and the public is invited to attend. No celebration is complete without a nod and a big thank you to the ladies who came before us. Enjoy this look into the past.
In 1958, several local women wanted to join the River City Garden Club to assist with projects to beautify Parsons. Unfortunately, River City had a full roster for membership with a waiting list. As Jane Barb, first president recalls, upon the advice of James Michael, “Start your own”, they did!
Original members included Jane Barb, President, Patricia Michael, Vice President, Karen Springer, Nina Buchanan, Leona Thompson, Claire Louise Hebb, Virginia McCauley, Bert Price, Katorah Goff, Gail Wilfong, Helen Collet and Helen Harner.
The first meetings were organizational in nature. However, the ladies did present a Christmas show at the Tucker County Bank in 1958 using fresh material. The Christmas event continues to be a success years later. Jane Barb remembers the days of developing the club as fun days and a lot of work. She said with Patricia Michael helping her, she and the others successfully federated the club with the WV Garden Club in January 1959 .
Laughingly, Jane remembers evenings in Helen Collett’s basement, making peanut butter covered pine cones rolled in bird seed to feed the birds during the winter. She isnot sure how much peanut butter and bird seed she carried home on her clothing with her. She loved learning the design techniques for arranging flowers and always the social element with her friends was important. Her home reflects her love of gardening with thriving house plants scattered around her home. Keeping Parsons beautiful and contributing to that beauty was a guiding factor in the establishment of the club and was important to her and the founding members of the club
By sharing a common goal and working together the ladies were able to begin a beneficial organization that continues today and is an asset to our town. The once thriving River City Garden Club is now defunct.
The Mountaineer Garden Club continues to encourage all members and the public to maintain at least one bird feeding station at their home. Contact Vivian Shomo, President, for information on how you can contribute to the beauty of our town atvshomo72@gmail.com.
