2004 Educational Conference - Award Winners

For award descriptions, see the Awards page.

Certificates of Appreciation

Elizabeth DePiero

Elizabeth, a member of the Western Pennsylvania Unit, is recognized for her 28-year career teaching at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children; for her Braille signs in her unit’s Elizabethan Garden; and most notably for her careful recreation of Sidney Duerr’s wonderful 1960’s crewel embroidery kit titled Herbs for Use and Delight as seen on the most recent cover of The Herbarist.

Connie Wissing

Connie, a member of the Nashville Unit, for her dedication and professionalism in oversight of the redesign and expansion of the unit’s garden at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens; for her extensive involvement in assuring that plants are properly labeled and entered into Cheekwood’s database; and for her visionary efforts to create an endowment to support the larger garden space.

Certificates of Achievement

Helen Chandler

Helen, a recent transplant from the San Diego area to Greenville, South Carolina. For many years she was a volunteer, planner, planter and educator at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, nurturing over 500 plant varieties, including many rare plants shared by Dr. James Bauml. The herb garden there is named for Helen in honor of her extensive work there. And the Roper Mountain Science Center in Greenville is now fortunate to have Helen among their volunteers. 

Lane Furneaux

Lane, from Dallas, has enthusiastically shared the delight of herbs all her life, whether by tying a small pair of scissors to her fence so that passers by could snip her herbal bounties; by writing Heavenly Herbs, Enjoy Them!; by designing and overseeing the planting of a symbolism garden at the Furneaux Elementary School in Carrolton, Texas; or by creating lovely tussie mussie – including one for the Queen of England! Lane has just recently created a secret garden at the retirement community where she now resides, complete with rosemary for remembrance.

Sandy Manteuffel

Sandy, from the Cincinnati, Ohio, area has used her many talents in her work in the Cincinnati Herb Society, specializing in scented geraniums which she uses extensively in her delightful pottery designs on vases, earrings, pins, ornaments, mugs, plates, etc. Sandy’s love of herbs is evident in her clay designs, in the gardens she maintains, and in the talks she gives to the public.

The Gertrude B. Foster Award for Excellence in Herbal Literature

Dr. Arthur O. Tucker and Thomas DeBaggio

This award is jointly presented to Dr. Arthur O. Tucker and Thomas DeBaggio, in part for their 2000 publication, The Big Book of Herbs, and for their body of written work in previous books and articles. Both of these men exemplify The Society’s goal of sharing the use and knowledge of herbs through the written word. Separately and together, they have each made a significant contribution to herbal literature, in an understandable, precise, stimulating, and sometimes humorous way.

The Joanna McQauil Reed Award for the Artistic Use of Herbs

Eleanor Lowe Donley

Eleanor is recognized for her creative talents as shown in her delightful and botanically correct line drawings for the Western Reserve Unit’s publications, notecards, and recipe cards; for her design of the new wrought iron gate at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens; and numerous garden designs in and around Cleveland. In addition, her dried flower wreathes and fresh tussie-mussies over her thirty-three year tenure in The Herb Society of America demonstrate her artistic use of herbs, putting to use her studies at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

The Nancy Putnam Howard Award for Horticulture

Jim Adams

Jim is a member of the Potomac Unit and curator of the National Herb Garden. Jim’s stewardship of the National Herb Garden for the past 9 years has resulted in the garden’s rejuvenation, with more accurate labeling of plants, and evening events where he might be found disguised as a scarecrow presenting extensive lore surrounding the plants of Halloween. Jim has also offered his expertise in articles for Herb Society publications and has served on the Promising Plants Committee, providing photographs, plant material, and scripts for that committee’s presentation at each Educational Conference.

The Helen de Conway Little Medal of Honor

Nancy Comey Stevenson

Nancy, of the Western Reserve Unit, has served her unit in many capacities. She is also responsible for the creation, expansion, and maintenance of the gardens at her church. Her extensive innovative and inspirational work in horticultural therapy, first as a volunteer and later as a professional therapist and educator, is most impressive. She has taught many volunteers and professionals in the field and has personally brought solace to many more people, as they work through their individual processes of rehabilitation. She truly has made significant contributions to the world of horticulture.

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