October - UT Gardens - The University of Tennessee

The Friends are a
800-member 501(c)(3) non
profit founded in 1992.
Our mission is to advocate,
promote, and raise funds for
the Gardens from citizens on the
university campus, in our community
and across the state.
The Gardens will celebrate their
25th anniversary in 2008.
Editorial Board
Bettie Corey
Carolyn Dean
Steve Row
The Garden Post publishes eight
issues in February, March, April,
May, June, September, October
and December, plus occasional
special issues. The deadline for
submissions is the first day of
the previous month. Questions
for “Q&A” are also welcome.
P. O. Box 51394
Knoxville, TN 37950-1394
Infoline: 865-525-4555
friendsoftheutgardens@utk.edu
www.friendsoftheutgardens.org
Leadership transitions
With growing work and added family
responsibilities, past president
Theresa Pepin has been looking for
someone to succeed her as executive
director for some time. After
many discussions with several potential
candidates over the last two years,
she and the co-presidents have found
a true gem for the Friends, to begin
Oct. 1: Elizabeth Burman. Elizabeth
is the first program coordinator for
the University of Tennessee’s Marco
Institute for Medieval and Renaissance
Studies. Theresa will continue to work
with the co-presidents to build relationships
and develop long term funding in
her position as past president and will
complete the Plaza project in cooperation
with the East Tennessee Research
and Education Center director and
crew. She has also worked with
Elizabeth during much of the month of
September and will continue to help to
ensure a smooth transition.
New executive director Elizabeth
Burman is jumping right into the
Friends’ activities and will head the
Blooms Days Committee for 2008.
Mary Collins Shepard will continue to
serve as advisor and work on sponsorship
for Blooms Days and in collaboration
with the Silver Anniversary Friends
Committee. An insert celebrating the
25 th Anniversary of the Gardens is
planned for 2008 in the Knoxville
News Sentinel. This project will allow
for a number of special opportunities
for individuals and Business Patrons,
Sponsors and Friends to express
support and advertise at the same
time.
Melissa Ferguson, secretary of the
Friends, must leave her post at the
end of this year because her schedule
will change to require her to work at
her Knox County Library Branch on
Monday evenings. Before she leaves the
Friends’ board, Melissa will work with
Theresa Pepin to assemble archives for
the Friends that can then be accessed
in Pendergrass Library. They will also
clean out the Ellington “cell” of old and
extraneous material so that the seven
foot stack of materials in Theresa’s
home office can be transferred. An
archival copy of all sample publications
will be retained and organized in
a notebook.
Melissa deserves deep thanks for her
assiduous work on the minutes for all
of our meetings. They have been a
tremendous help.
Sandra Leach will also be leaving
the board after nearly seven years
of continuous service in a variety of
capacities—membership chair, treasurer,
vice president. She will focus
her energies on the critical task of
participating in the search committee
for the Director of the Gardens.
Other leadership news
We are delighted to have Posey
Congleton chair the new Silver
Anniversary Friends Committee. We
are also very appreciative that Dr. Joe
Johnson and Mrs. Deborah DiPietro
have agreed to serve as honorary
co-chairs.
Co-President Mary Spengler has
already been hard at work with
Theresa Pepin and Posey Congleton
in meeting with longtime supporters
of the Friends and Gardens to
encourage their participation as
Silver Anniversary Friends to mark
the 25 th anniversary of the Gardens.
Discussions to date have been
very rewarding. If we have not yet
contacted you and you would like to
speak with us, please call the Infoline
at 865-525-4555 or email
friendsoftheutgardens@utk.edu.
Co-President Faye Beck also chairs
the Friends’ Educational Programs and
Plant Sales Committee. She is already
hard at work on plans for those in
2008. If you have ideas for workshops
we should consider offering, or wish
to volunteer for this committee, please
call the Infoline at 865-525-4555 or
email friendsoftheutgardens@utk.edu.
Lucy Gibson, chair of the Secret
Gardens Committee, is working with her
committee to finalize plans for those
community fundraisers in 2008. If you
would like to host a party, have a good
suggestion for a candidate garden, or
wish to serve on this committee, please
call the Infoline at 865-525-4555 or
email friendsoftheutgardens@utk.edu.
Carolyn Crowder, vice president and
administrative services coordinator,
has been responsible for arrangements
for the Annual Membership Meeting
Nov. 5. If you would like to help
Carolyn at the meeting, please call
the Infoline at 865-525-4555 or email
friendsoftheutgardens@utk.edu.
From the Outgoing Friends Executive Director
Theresa Pepin
My copy for The Garden Post deadline was due the same
day that I was committed to play the newly refurbished and
enlarged pipe organ in a beautiful historic church in downtown
Knoxville, the Church Street United Methodist Church.
Usually I write quickly, but I had been struggling for weeks
with how to leave a few words—scrapping reams of paper—
that would adequately express my gratitude for the many
people I have had a chance to work with and learn from in
the last few years of association with the Friends.
As I listened to the two sermons at the two services that
day, it occurred to me to think about: A group of Friends in
heaven. With many recent developments in my life, it has
finally occurred to me that I cannot do all I want to do on
earth and that my family and I won’t live forever, waiting for
me to stop trying to do it all. So, I have recently started to
assemble in my mind’s eye the Friends I want to serve with
in heaven. Please bear with me, but they are, first names
only: Ginna, Lisa, Maggie, Mary, Mary, Mary, Faye, Carolyn,
Carolyn, Sandy, Sandi, Lucy, Dennis, Steve, Kathleen, Jacki,
Jenny, Gary, Donald, Donald, Tom, Eileen, Bill, Kenneth,
Will, John, Jim, David, Janice, Deborah, Barbara, Terumi,
Katie, Robin, Bessie, Martha, Angie, Bill, Tom, Mike, Joe,
Joe, Joe, Joe, Jack, Jack, Jeff, Carrie, Sarah, Amy, Amy,
Nancy, Caesar, Dorothy, Tom, Sherri, Karen, Dee, Bee,
Jean, Harriette, Alice, Alice, Martha, Margaret, Warner, Rita,
Kenneth, Posey, Bettie, Bruce, John, Jesse, Maggie, Paddy,
Nicole, Lise, Andre, Janie, Henry, Ellen, Kim, Cynthia,
Frances, Amy, Helen, Sandy, Karen, Debbie, Jim, Natalie,
Miriam, Allison, Sarah, Alan, Teenie.
Some of these people barely know me, but they have been
an inspiration nonetheless. Most of them don’t even know
each other, but they would be my ideal assembly of Friends
nevertheless. They’d be capable of recreating heaven on
earth or earth in heaven. In any event, they’d make a difference
for the good. Over and over again, they have changed
my attitude or thinking, made me do better, brightened my
day, “given me refreshment” as the old psalm says, or just
kept me going in my life and work in the Knoxville community.
I am very, very grateful.
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