MainStreetMonroe, Monroe Ohio's Community Website

Meeting Location: Currently being held at the James Monroe Community Room in the City Administration Building.

Dates: 3rd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM

Becky Howard, president; Tina Nyguen, vice president; Susan Martin, secretary and Peggy Abernathy, treasurer. Outgoing president, Anna Hale used a standard OAGC ceremony from the handbook, "An A-B-C Installation" symbolizing plants. Letters from 3rd grade students at Monroe Elementary School were read thanking them for the redbud trees which were distributed on Arbor Day. Tree seedlings have been given to 3rd grade students since the inception of the club 44 years ago as part of their beautification program. Ellen Kinsey presented a Civic Beautification Award to John Osterman for his landscape display.

Members and friends of the community are invited to attend the Fall Card Party from 6:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M., October 12th at the Activity Building on the campus of Mount Pleasant Retirement Village, on the corner of Northwestern and Indiana Avenue, Monroe. There will be food, refreshments, door prizes and a raffle. Bring friends and card clubs for a fun evening. Reservations are limited. For advanced sales, contact Pauline Belcher at (513) 539-8280 or Peggy Hesson at (513) 539-8407. The next club meeting will be September 21st at the James Monroe Community Room in the City Building. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend a meeting and possibly join the Monroe Garden Club. Call Peggy Abernathy at (513) 539-7892.

The Monroe Garden Club was chartered in July 1960. In July 2000 we will celebrate our 40th year. Founder, Ruth Cast, toured around Monroe, in the summer of 1960 looking for flower gardens and landscaped homes. She boldly knocked on the doors of these homes to inquire if the lady of the house would be interested in starting a "garden club". Ida Mae Woodward, Elsie Follmer, and Mildred Oliver answered the call and these four ladies prepared the groundwork to establish The Monroe Garden Club.

Other members that joined in those first vital years and offered their contributions were: Marie Ervin, Ada Chamberlain, Florence Constiner, Catherine Campbell, Helen Rothwell, Mae Palmer, Cyrena Schrock, Myrtle Reed, Loena Whitenack, and Barbara Peeling. Many other gardeners have been supportive of this club in the past 39 years.

Guidelines for organization and by-laws were garnered from the Handbook for Garden Clubs, offered by membership in the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs. Our members are still active in this state organization and our Region 4 includes the counties of Butler, Hamilton, Clermont and Brown. Twice a year regional meetings and the State Convention in July keep us in touch with other clubs and gardeners in our region and throughout the state. The OAGC motto is: Knowing, Growing, Showing, and Sharing.

The objective of the garden club is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening and flower arranging, and always striving to improve our work by practice and study. To aid in the conservation and protection of our natural resources, and to encourage civic beauty. Our seasonal agenda includes: Civic Beautification (plantings where appropriate), provide a wreath for the Community Memorial Day services, Christmas Lighting Contest, Arbor Day activities, and awarding beautification certificates to those in
the city that have earned recognition for their hard work with outstanding landscapes and gardens.

Club meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM. Meetings are currently being held at the James Monroe Community Room in the City Administration Building. Each month a program is planned and speakers, slide presentations, horticulturist, flower arrangers, and garden related topics are presented to club members. The Monroe Garden Club is open to
women in the Monroe/Middletown area who are interested in nature, conservation, civic beautification, and flower arranging.

The current officers and members are President, Marilyn Niebur, Vice-president, Becky Howard, Secretary, Anna Hale, Treasurer, and Peggy Abernathy. Directors: Judy Shillinglaw and Susan Martin. Active Members: Mary Jo Bauer, Pauline Belcher, Evelyn Bowling, Eva Ellis, Mary Griffin, Peggy Hesson, Ellen Kinsey, Madonna Krol, Jean Mapel, Lu Neubrander, Phyllis Sells, Nancy Walck, Betty Westercamp. Associate Members: Millie Bretland and Sara Cottongim. Honorary Lifetime Member: Ida Mae Woodward.