JARS v59n4 - In Memoriam: Margaret Fawcett

In Memoriam: Margaret Fawcett
Reid Warren

The Valley Forge Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society has lost a good friend with the death of Margaret Fawcett on May 27, 2005. She fought valiantly against the cancer that finally took her life, and two days before her last brief hospitalization she was out planting flowers.

For over fifteen years, Margaret actively served the chapter as a board member, program chair, membership chair, volunteer at the annual plant sale fund raiser and was always ready to take part in any chapter event. Among other activities, and along with her close companion Frank Brouse, she attended the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy meetings in North Carolina, garden tour bus trips, and the native plant study group.

In keeping with her interest in the outdoors and gardening, at the time of her death she was also a board member of Jenkins Arboretum in Devon, Pennsylvania, and a docent at the Philadelphia Zoo.

Last November she mustered up the energy and enthusiasm to go with Frank and with Tony and Penny D'Alessandro on a two-week garden and sight-seeing tour to Italy, with Piero Sambucci as their host and guide. The four close friends had a marvelous time together.

As a board member, hers was always the voice of reasonableness and encouragement. She never had an unkind word to express about another or any situation. She also had a keen sense of humor, and two months before her death, she showed off her returning hair, lost to chemo, to some of the balding men of the chapter.

Margaret was a bright and engaging woman with an untiring enthusiasm for life. She never lost that positive attitude, even at the end. We will all miss her.