Rose Garden Club honors longtime member

The Rose Garden Club of Medina honored longtime member Elinor Vandergriff last Wednesday, September 14 with a lifetime membership in the Texas Garden Clubs.

A large group of club members crowded into the meeting room at the Rodney Camp Pavilion to honor Vandergriff at their monthly meeting.

Mrs. Vandergriff and her husband moved from Houston to Medina in 2001. Elinor joined the Rose Garden Club right away. A former RN, she became a very active member of the club and has been a monthly meeting hostess at least once a year since then.

In 2003, Vandergriff joined the club’s Board of Directors as the Recording Secretary and co-chair of the Program and Yearbook Committee. She also was a speaker on the topic of Medina wildflowers. By 2007, Vandergriff had transitioned to the position of the club’s First Vice President and Co-Chair of the Plant Sale.

Serving as president for two years, Vandergriff also was Chairman of the Cemetery Garden, as well as a member of the Community Library Maintenance Group and Plant Marker Project. She has also served as co-chair of the Landscape Book Sales, Membership, and Programs and Yearbook committees.

In fact, there are few positions within the Rose Garden Club that Vandergriff has not held. She also spearheaded the creation of the new member welcome brochure for the club.

As President, she actively supported the recruitment of new members taking the club from a membership of 29 to 39 members which resulted in the subsequent growth of the club to almost 60 members.

Club President Leigh Thomas said “Elinor has always been an encourager. She likes new ideas and she’s open to change and improvements. She’s a big promoter of planting native plants.” Vandergriff supports active community participation and attributes that community work to the growth of the club membership.

“This garden club has taught me so much more than any garden club before. I learn something every time I come and with every experience. It is a good garden club,” remarked Vandergriff emotionally. “I am just overwhelmed.”

To honor the occasion, Vandergriff received a ribbon, pin, official Texas Garden Club membership certificate and membership card as well as a watercolor painting of wildflowers to mark her lifetime membership status in the Texas Garden Club.

Mrs. Vandergriff continues to serve the Medina Rose Garden Club as Historian and Co-Chair of the Oak Rest Cemetery Garden Work Crew.

The September speaker for the meeting was Wade Parsons, husband of club Recording Secretary Colleen Nicholas. Parsons gave a fascinating presentation on spiders entitled “Along Came A Spider.”

His fact-filled presentation was infused with humor, and he amazed club members with his encyclopedic knowledge of arachnids and focused on spiders as pollinators and garden allies.

After his presentation, the club enjoyed refreshments with help teach our school children all about vegetables.”

At the end of the event, the club conducted a brief business meeting.

The Medina Rose Garden Club meets once a month, beginning in September on the second Wednesday of the month at the Rodney Camp Pavilion in Medina.

For more information about membership or Garden Club activities, email medinagardenclub@ gmail.com or find them on Facebook.