T e x T a n d P h o T o s b y L a u r a s c o v i L L e e k s T r o m

It was a once-every-18-years event: In September 2007, the Garden Club of Barrington had the

privilege of hosting 17 fellow Garden Club of America member clubs for the annual Midwest Zone

XI meeting. Each member of the zone takes its turn every 18 years, and this year the meeting was

held here, at the Chicago Marriott Northwest and in Barrington. The Barrington members’ careful

planning provided for a delightful country garden and prairie extravaganza for all who attended.

Keepers of the

The Garden Club of Barrington Hosts Zone XI’s Annual Meeting

Land

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T He GArden CluB of AMerICA’s (GCA) 17, 500 members across the united states share the same purpose – to stimulate the knowledge and

love of gardening, to share the advantages of association by means of open meetings, conferences, correspondence and publications, and to restore, im-prove, and protect the quality of the environment through educational pro-grams and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement. The GCA will celebrate its centennial in 2013.

The GCA’s 197 member clubs are divided into 12 geographic zones across the country. The Garden Club of Barrington is one of six GCA clubs in Illi-nois, and Illinois joins Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, and nebraska to complete Zone XI.

Cinder dowling, president of the Garden Club of Barrington, and Gail o’Gorman, who chaired the event, presented the theme “Keepers of the land,” which reflected a dedication to conservation and the desire to preserve open spaces. It is also the title of an award-winning conservation-minded book that is published by the Garden Club of Barrington and is distributed free to new homeowners as a public service. The book is also available at the Barrington Area Historical society.

during the two-day event, the Garden Club of Barrington welcomed 72

attendees, including national GCA officers, Zone XI club presidents, and del-egates from all six states. After attending workshops and seminars, partici-pants were treated to beautiful garden walks and gourmet dinners in private Barrington-area homes. Hostesses included Pat Ballot, Connie Bischof, lou flannery, nancy Hamill, shirley Irwin, Carol Moorman, Kay schueppert, Betsie smith, and Mary smith.

friday began with the Peacock lecture series, which was also open to the public. The program commenced with an introduction by Garden Club of Barrington members Penny Horne and Mary McCarthy, who discussed Keepers of the Land. sam oliver, executive director of Citizens for Conserva-tion in Barrington, spoke of the ways in which her organization is “saving living space for living Things” through protection, restoration and steward-ship of land, conservation of natural resources, and education.

featured speakers included Wendy Paulson, an internationally known conservationist and environmental educator, who discussed her unique per-spective on conservation and nature-based education. As wife of u.s. sec-retary of the Treasury Henry (Hank) Paulson, Jr., she calls both Washing-ton, d.C., and Barrington Hills home. she is known locally as being the first “nature lady” to Barrington schoolchildren. Paulson continues her love of nature education by teaching bird classes in two new York City public

Previous page, center: Gardens in the spirit of Place author Page Dickey, Maryjo Garre, Cinder Dowling, Wendy Paulson, Mary McCarthy, Penny Horne,

and Sam Oliver. Above left: Pat Ballot and Elaine Burke, winners of the Zone Flower Arrangement Achievement Award and Flower Arrangement Educa-

tion Award. Above right: Jane Heidkamp, Peggy Graham, Arlette Weber, Penny Horne, and Kay Schueppert.

98 Q uintessential Barrington • QBarr ing ton.com

schools. she spoke about conservation efforts in the Barrington area as well as giving audiences an opportunity for questions and answers.

Author Page dickey spoke about her latest book, Gardens in the Spirit of Place. fourteen gardens across the united states were profiled, each garden representing an original response to its surroundings.

Those attending the Peacock lectures were also invited to view the pho-tography competition and the horticulture exhibits. Blue ribbons in photog-raphy were awarded to laura ekstrom and dicie Hansen of the Garden Club of Barrington, and Best of show was awarded to Carole sandner of the lake Geneva Garden Club, who is also the current Zone XI chairman.

Then it was off to lunch hosted by Garden Club of Barrington president Cinder dowling and Maryjo Garre, who is also the current president of the Garden Club of America and who held the lunch at her home. Guests gath-ered in a tent overlooking a lake and Maryjo’s “ungarden” gardens, known for being natural to their settings. stephen Packard, a prairie restoration expert of the Audubon society, spoke about Chicago-area prairies.

After lunch, the ladies were treated to a tour of Grigsby Prairie – a 37-acre prairie contributed to Citizens for Conservation 21 years ago by Garden Club of Barrington member Peggy richards in memory of her father, Pete Grigsby. next stop was Peg olsen’s fabulous garden “Woods Walk,” featuring 15 acres of garden rooms. After the garden tours, tea and refreshments were offered at rolling oaks farm.

The awards dinner on friday evening recognized several very accom-plished and dedicated individuals from Zone XI garden clubs and their lo-cal communities. Garden Club of Barrington member Pat Ballot received the Zone flower Arrangement Achievement Award, and Barrington Garden Club member Penny Horne received the Zone distinguished service Award for contributions in flower arranging, conservation, and mentoring. sam oliver accepted the Zone Conservation Commendation for Citizens for Conserva-tion.

A special presentation was made to a surprised Maryjo Garre in appre-ciation of her service as the first GCA president from the Midwest Zone XI.

Top: Garden Club of Barrington member and current Garden Club of America president Maryjo Garre. Bottom left: Featured speaker Wendy Paulson, an in-ternationally known conservationist. Bottom center: Prairie restoration expert Stephen Packard, director of the Chicago Region of the Audubon Society. Bottom right: Donna Baker.

Continued on page 100

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The stars lined up this year for Maryjo Garre, who

is the first-ever president of the Garden Club of

America to hail from the Midwest. This exciting

achievement for the Garden Club of Barrington

was further cause for celebration at this year’s

GCA’s Midwest Zone XI annual meeting, which

rotates between all 18 Zone XI member clubs

and was held this year in Barrington.

Maryjo Garre, the recently installed president

of the Garden Club of America, calls herself “a

native of Barrington” since 1967. Raised in Green-

wich, Connecticut, Maryjo’s love of gardening

dates back at least 25 years, when she first joined

the Garden Club of Barrington, a CGA member

club. She enjoys flower arranging, cooking, golf,

needlepoint, and reading. Her love of traveling

will come in handy, as her position with the GCA

will require many trips across the United States

to meet with her constituencies.

Barrington has known Maryjo Garre in her

many leadership capacities over the years. She is

the past president of the Barrington chapter of the

Infant Welfare Society, Elgin Academy Mothers

Club, and the Barrington Area Development

Maryjo appreciates the incredible opportunity

before her: “In the fall, I was at an event at the

Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina. The next

visit was a dinner event at Winterthur, the former

home of Henry Francis du Pont.”

She says her new position, a one-time only

term to last for two years, is a fairy tale come true –

certainly, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by any

measure. –Lisa Stamos

Once in a Lifetime

Above: Maryjo Garre (center) receives a painting of her home by American Watercolor Society artist Pat Mead (left). Garden Club of Barrington president Cinder Dowling is at right.

Council. She is also past chairman of the Bar-

rington Hills Plan Commission.

The wife of Samuel Garre III and mom to

Samuel IV, Gregory, and Karen, Maryjo looks for-

ward to her new role as head of the GCA and

appreciates her family’s support. During her

installation last May in Boston, she shared per-

sonal sentiments in her acceptance speech: “I

accept this gavel as others have before me with

great humility. Receiving this in Massachusetts is

especially meaningful. Many of my happiest mo-

ments were in this state: summers at Cape Cod,

college in the Berkshires, a blind date with the

man of my dreams, later a proposal from him,

and now this.”

Maryjo says, “The Garden Club of America’s

197 member clubs are all autonomous, yet each

does what is needed in its own community.

Our club has concentrated its efforts on gar-

den maintenance – we see ourselves as keep-

ers of the land. All of the GCA clubs have com-

mon interests. It will be fascinating to visit the

various clubs to see what they’re doing in their

own communities and then share those ideas.”

100 Q uintessential Barrington • QBarr ing ton.com

Top: Garden Club of Barrington president Cinder Dowling with event chair Gail O’Gorman. Bottom: Page Dickey (right), author of Gardens in the spirit of Place, signs her book for Joan Wolfgram (left).

she was presented with a painting of her home by American Watercolor society artist and Garden Club of Barrington member Pat Mead. The paint-ing featured a great blue heron in the lake in front of her home, which was especially meaningful as it also is represented in the garden club logo and served as the symbol of the 2007 Zone XI meeting.

The Garden Club of Barrington’s meeting offered such a variety of ven-ues and events that the delegates departed with a sense of awe at the in-spiring speakers and the scale and charm of the country gardens they had visited, as well as a sense of humble appreciation of the pure beauty of the tallgrass prairie, so beautifully preserved and cherished here.

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