Remembering Friends BY JIM MORRIS, OBITUARIES EDITOR, MISSOURI
Your Life was a blessing
Your Memory a treasure
You were loved beyond words,
And missed beyond measure.
…Anon
In this issue we belatedly remember Shirley Pope
of AIS Region 1, who died in 2016, and Hilda Crick of
Region 7, who passed this March.
Shirley Pope (1935 – 2016)
Born in Lewiston, ME, on
July 27, 1935, Shirley Pope, 80,
passed away peacefully on
January 3, 2016. She married
her beloved husband Maurice
B. Pope in 1953 and eventually
lived for 50 years in Gorham,
ME, where her passion for
gardening and collecting
specimen plants began. Her
large backyard was gradually
Shirley Pope
, stephanie markham
turned into a tour garden hosting many visitors and
later became a business, Pope’s Perennials.
Shirley was well known for her expertise with
Siberian and Japanese irises. For several years she
worked closely with fellow Maine resident Dr. Currier
McEwen raising and evaluating both iris types. Pope’s
Perennials introduced new creations by McEwen,
John White, Sarah Tiffney, and Chandler Fulton. Her
namesake, the red-purple ‘Shirley Pope’ (McEwen
1979, SIB), won an Award of Merit in 1986 and is grown
throughout the U.S. (including in my garden). She
shipped plants all over the world and her time spent in
the garden was a real labor of love.
Shirley was a past president of the Maine Iris
Society, regional vice president (RVP) of Region 1 from
1990 to 1992, and an AIS master judge, and served on
the AIS board of directors 1997–2002 and as chairman
of affiliates. She was a member of the Society for
Siberian Irises and for years wrote a popular column,
“Perennial Yours,” for MWM—Maine Women Magazine.
Shirley Pope was survived (in 2016) by her husband
Maurice, daughter Viola Pope (Olav) Marcussen, and
two grandchildren. Her quotation from her high school
senior yearbook was: “Always leave them laughing
when you say good-bye.”
Hilda Eulene (Troop) Crick (1930 – 2018)
A proud Tennessean, Hilda
Crick, 88, was born January
29, 1930, and passed away
March 19, 2018, in hospice in
Jacksonville, Florida, with her
son and daughter-in-law, Steve
and Lori Crick, by her side.
She was preceded in death
by her husband, Raymond
Kearney Crick, in 2012. She
was a retiree of Genesco, Inc.,
Hilda Crick
, ginny russell
of Lewisburg, TN, and later also a retiree from Henry
Horton State Park in Chapel Hill, TN. This state park
was the site of many Region 7 meetings and judges’
training classes through the years.
Hilda had been a member of AIS since 1965 and
served as Region 7 RVP from 1982 to 1984. She was a
member of the AIS board of directors 1989–1994 and
served as chairman of judges and judges’ training. She
was a member and fierce advocate of the committee
for revision of the AIS Handbook for Judges and Show
Officials, copyright 2007. She was awarded the AIS
Distinguished Service Medal in 1994 and was honored
to be a judge at the international iris competition in
Florence, Italy, in 1995.
Hilda Crick was lovingly known as “Me-Ma” by her
two grandchildren, six great grandchildren, and four
great great grandchildren. She will be missed by all.
Other
As we went to press I received notice that the
French hybridizer Lawrence Ransom also died in 2016
at 62. He registered 166 irises, primarily in the classes
of Arilbred, SDB, IB and TB, with 25 of his Arilbreds
planted in Las Cruces at the 2018 Aril Trek. His ‘Vera-
Marina’ (1997, AB) (RB) is probably his best known
introduction in the U. S.
d
IN MEMORIAM
Terry Johnson
New Zealand
Shirley A. Varmette
South Glen Falls, NY
Beatrice Williams
Bison, OK
Richard Lango
Santa Clara, CA
18 AIS Bulletin Summer 2018