THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604050136
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Susie Stoughton
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Just in time, daffodils are dancing again.
Wearied of winter, we ached for Easter's promised renewal as they finally showed their sunny faces.
And what a relief. Just as we feared there'd be no end to the bitter chill, the blooms trumpeted spring's return. They soothed frayed nerves as only nature can.
Miss Lill, a favorite relative from my childhood, would have told us not to fret. She trusted the cycles of life as she trusted life's creator.
Her yard was sprinkled with colorful emblems of renewal, and her dining room table was graced with bowls of fresh cut flowers.
For those of us whose green thumbs never survive the first frost of autumn, potted plants and blooming baskets can rejuvenate our yards and porches.
The Southampton Memorial Hospital Auxiliary will hold a plant and bake sale Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Apparently, the members knew my geraniums didn't make it through the winter.
Stop by their tent at the Franklin Garden Center on Commerce Park Road, and you can replenish your garden - and your soul - while helping a worthwhile cause.
This year's proceeds go toward equipping a new mammography unit at the Franklin hospital.
Spring flowers always remind me of Miss Lill, more an extra grandmother than a great-aunt to my brother and me.
Each Easter morning, we'd scrub the scrambled egg from our faces, then follow her into the yard for the annual procession of the flowers.
On past the ancient magnolia with its branches brushing the bare earth, we'd head to the lawn's edge where the sunlight warmed the haphazard beds.
I'd step lightly, hoping the damp grass wouldn't cling to my new, white patent leather shoes. My crisp organdy dress matched the daffodils we were seeking.
Every year I feared no flowers would await us there in the morning stillness. But we didn't hedge our bets with hothouse plants even when Easter came early.
Miss Lill never worried. She'd confidently march right over to the buds that had popped open overnight, as if they somehow knew this was Easter and theirs was a special mission.
She trusted that there would be a tulip or two, or perhaps a hyacinth or a sprig of forsythia.
And she'd make sure we each had a blossom. I'd hold mine tightly in one white-gloved hand, clutching my pocketbook in the other as we walked around the corner to the church where I was baptized. Later I'd return there to recite the catechism Miss Lill helped teach me on summer visits.
Other children soon joined us, each holding a fragrant offering, as the pianist pounded out, ``Up From the Grave He Arose.''
Spring's aroma quickly filled the room. Class by class, we'd walk to the front and place the stems into a Styrofoam form until we had a 5-foot flower cross - for me the symbol of Easter mornings and Miss Lill's unswerving faith.
She was as confident of a place reserved for her in heaven as she was of her address here on Earth. And while she remained among us, she delighted in her friends and family, teaching us the beauty of flowers and the goodness of life.
The begonias and impatiens the auxiliary members sell and the work they support would have made Miss Lill proud. A teaching missionary to Korea before war broke out there in the '50s, she grew African violets on her window shelf and left the perennials to nature's course outside.
When we visited, she'd bake us gingerbread men and gather us around the piano for a chorus of ``How Great Thou Art.''
She taught Sunday school and supported hospitals overseas, rolling bandages for mission projects. If there had been an organization like the auxiliary in her small town, she surely would have donned a pink smock and joined the ladies who give of their time to deliver flowers and mail to the patients.
Just like the auxiliary members, Miss Lill was a volunteer. She never sought personal reward but gave selflessly to others.
Every two years, the auxiliary members focus on a special project. They hope to raise $75,000 for the mammography unit. Without the help from the tireless volunteers, the hospital would have a hard time providing so much for its patients.
``We gave them a check for $43,000 last year,'' said Chandler Hotchkiss, auxiliary president, ``so we're over half-way there.''
The auxiliary also sponsors the Christmas Tree of Lights and members volunteer their time to operate a gift shop in the hospital lobby.
New members are always welcome in the organization, whose numbers have dwindled over the years as more and more women have returned to the work force.
The plant and bake sale is the group's annual spring fund-raiser.
Stop by and stock up on your supply of bedding plants or buy a hanging basket or two.
Flowers are food for the soul, Miss Lill would tell you. by CNB