Re: [gardeners] Do I have to own a suit to go to a funeral?
Jane Burdekin (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 2 Feb 1998 04:58:43 -0700
Bob,
I'm so sorry about your loosing your friend and inspiration. You can
continue on in his field to keep his spirit alive. No you don't have to
own a suit to attend the service. Best wishes. Jane
>
> A bit late to ask, by now, as it was when I found out half the faculty
> in the department were gone Wednesday to John Pair's funeral down in
Wichita.
> A little late as well to ask about working with him on several uncommon
woody
> plants that seem to have merit for the Southern Plains.
> John who? Oh, well, he had his share of fame: high-end awards from
AHS,
> ASHS (Am. Soc. for Horticultural Science) and no doubt others. You can't
> have failed to see his name while delving into Dirr's Manual of Woody
> Landscape Plants.
>
> I only met him twice. Once years ago at a Wichita Hort Research Center
> field day, plus one Saturday morning a few years later when I wandered in
> because the gate was open, and he was out in the plantings taking notes.
> Those occasions stick in my mind in part because they were among the
few
> long conversations with an intelligent person I _had_ back in those days
-
> and maybe because he was the only person who ever actually encouraged me
to
> go into horticulture.
>
> "Inspiration" is no doubt too strong a term - I probably take that
little
> better than I do advice - but... aw, hell, I don't suppose in the last
few
> years of his life he would've liked to know he'd had some part in
bringing
> someone to professional horticulture who could envision worse careers
than
> taking much the same kind of work he did into the next century.