At the September meeting of the Great Bend Garden Club 14 members heard from Alice Young, Rose Garden chairman, who presented updates on Rose Garden news and asked for decisions concerning upcoming activities.
The Rose Garden in the Great Bend Cemetery has long been a meaningful meditation area appreciated by the Great Bend community. A beautiful statue of an angel now is a focal point in the center of the roses.
The story of the statue’s placement as a memorial to Mary Kummer Maneth, a long-time member of both the Garden Club and the Great Bend Beautification Committee, and of those two organizations working together to bring this about will be upcoming in an item in The Great Bend Tribune. Alice will be working with Mary’s family and both organizations to accomplish this.
The Rose Garden has been beautiful all summer thanks in part to the maintenance work done by Tammi Wagner, who has weeded, pruned and mulched the roses; by Tim Wornkey and the cemetery staff, who have helped with the watering system; and the Garden Club members who have faithfully watered each week.
A work day for club members will be held on Oct. 4 for the purpose of removing mildew from some of the lattice work and stone benches and repainting memorial plaque poles.
Additional items of business for discussion included the Garden Club shirts which have been ordered from Roth Embroidery and are reaching completion and available for purchase, the addition of four new names to the memorial plaques in the Rose Garden, the club’s policy of receiving only donations toward new roses which would preclude individuals purchasing roses themselves, and a decision to secure a certified public accountant to handle the club’s renewal of its non-profit status.
Hostess for the meeting was Eileen Ingersol. The next meeting of the Garden Club will be on Oct. 20 in the Barton County Extension Office meeting room with Darlene Boley as hostess and Nancy Williams providing the program.