LAGC 75th Anniversary Honoring Our Past, notes Sept. 23, 2025

 LAGC members, friends and family gathered at the McCandless/Northern Allegheny Heritage and Cultural Center to honor the club’s history and recognize some of its longstanding members. Attendees received a bookmark to remember the lovely evening. 

To begin the program, President, Nancy Madeoy welcomed members and Secretary, Colleen Fingal led members in reciting the Conservation Pledge, by L.L. Foreman, 1946. This pledge used to be said at all LAGC meetings.

 

Nancy then recognized our longest standing members: Bev Steiger (42 years), Bill Goff (40 Years), Helen Dean (31 years), Peggy Elizeus (30 years), Terry Sarver (30 years), and Lynn Betts (27 years). Combined they have over 200 years of membership. That’s something special to celebrate!

 

The next part of the program called “Reflections – stories of gardening and friendship” was a chance for our longstanding members to speak about their experiences in being a member of LAGC.

 

Cindy Stewart spoke on behalf of Bev Steiger by reading Bev’s words about how she joined the garden club 42 years ago at the prompting of one of her friends and former member, Flo Ogden. They joined with little knowledge about gardening, but with friendship and mentoring of Eleanor Dusenberry, they continued to learn and grow with the garden club.

 

Bill Goff delighted members as he took a walk down memory lane and talked about how he came to join LAGC and remained a member for 40 years. His love of gardening and learning about plants kept growing over the years so that he eventually became a Penn State Master Gardener.

 

We watched a video where Helen Dean and Peggy Elizeus explained how they designed and planted the Chapel Garden at Passavant Hospital. They said they did not have very much experience when they started but, after working together with the garden club, they continually learned more and ended up being the Chapel Garden Coordinators for many years.

 

The highlight of the celebration was viewing the “The story of Longvue Acres Garden Club” video which was researched and written by Claudia Hickly and narrated by Martin Karl. The video shows how LAGC began and its many activities throughout its 75 years. Photos and newspaper articles from the first 50 years were pulled from the archives and featured in the video to show how the garden club has grown over the years. We also saw many current members participating in the club activities of the more recent 25 years.

 Longvue Acres Garden Club: Celebrating 75 Years

https://youtu.be/MqRGYgWa0Yo?si=cY6OeS0OkAHUJJo3

 

 

The formal program concluded with Denny Brown, leading members in a poem called Blessed is the club. According to the LAGC Archives this poem was shared at the 1967 Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania Convention. Denny then invited everyone to enjoy the refreshments and view the memorabilia of photos and program handbooks of LAGC.

 

Mary Jo Clayton donated beautiful dahlias from her own garden and created beautiful arrangements for the refreshment table. Dianne Machesney, Andrea Maire and Colleen Fingal provided delicious cookies and water to enjoy while members mingled and talked about how they liked the celebration event.

 

Our sincere thanks and appreciation to the 75^th Anniversary Committee for all the time they dedicated to preparing for the celebration: Claudia Hickly, Jane MacCredie, Amy Foreman, Diana Berendowski, Mary Anne Kurtz, Mary Jo Clayton, and Nancy Madeoy. Special thanks to McCandless/Northern Allegheny Heritage and Cultural Center, Suzanne Schnupp and the HCC volunteers, including Suzanne’s brother, John Mucka, who helped us that evening, also Director of McCandless Parks & Recreation, Abby Lucostic.

Photos by Dianne Machesney, Claudia Hickly, RoseMary Highman

Linda Keiser & Jane MacCredie enter History Center.

Amy Foreman, Linda and Denny Brown.

L to R: Mary Jo Clayton, Dianne Machesney, Mary Anne Kurtz, Claudia Hickly.

Program and bookmarks.

Honorees: Bill Goff, Helen Dean, Peggy Elizeus, Terry Sarver, Lynn Betts, and Bev Steiger.

Cindy Stewart reading Bev Steiger's remembrances of LAGC.

Bill Goff ready to shop, each honoree received a gift card.

Refreshment table.

McCandless Town Council resolution honoring LAGC's 65 years.

Mary Jo Clayton with her own dahlias.

Members enjoying a friendly chat, L to R: Janine Zink, Chris Kerin, Maureen Berg, 

Sue Brozick, Jane MacCredie, and Claudia Hickly.

Claudia Hickly, chairperson of celebration, in 50s styled finery.

A portion of the memorabilia over 75 years from Longvue Acres Garden Club displayed at the Heritage Center.

 

Annual Picnic June 2022

The 2022 annual picnic was a very enjoyable evening! Twenty-two members attended the picnic which was hosted by Nancy and Marlow Madeoy. Thank you to our gracious hosts!  We enjoyed the variety of delicious salads, side dishes, pasta and mini sandwiches which members brought for the table.  The fruit-filled desserts, lemon bread and chocolate florentine cookies were the perfect sweet ending to the meal. The sunny skies and comfortable weather were certainly welcomed by all.

  

• Colleen announced the names of the 2023 Board Members which are:

President: Nancy Madeoy

Vice President: Marlow Madeoy

Treasurer: Denny Brown

Recording Secretary:  Position is open — Please contact Colleen if you are interested

 

• Mary Ann Kurtz has volunteered to be the Program Coordinator for 2023.  Please continue to submit your ideas for programs or garden tours.  Members are also encouraged to take the lead and plan a program or two.  Before doing so, please contact Mary Ann for direction.
• The programs for the rest of 2022 are as follows:
• July — For the Love of Roses with Craig Jensen
• August — The Monarch Butterfly with Bill Goff.  Colleen Fingal will give a demonstration on how to make herbal salves
• September — TBA
• October — Fall Arrangement with Victoria
• Mary Ann Kurtz is working on plans for us to tour the Botanic Garden on a Saturday morning in August.  More details to come.
• Club Member Diana suggested 2 program ideas and both were well received by club members and will be considered for September 2022 or for sometime in 2023.
• The owner of Fairlamb Lavender Farm in Sandy Creek will come to talk to us about growing and using lavender.  There is no cost for the program other than reimbursing the speaker for gas money.
• Herpetologist, April Claus talks about PA native frogs, toads and salamanders which we would find in our gardens. She would bring the amphibians for her talk.
• Club member, Helen attended a program about the history of North Park which she thought was very good and would interest members. This was another great program idea and we will try to arrange a date with the speaker for LAGC.
• It was reported that the Passavant Chapel Garden looks great.  The daisies are in full bloom.  Deadheading the daisies will be the primary task over the next few months in the garden.  There are still a few weeks open in the schedule if a member would like to volunteer to work at the garden.  Members were thanked for helping to maintain the garden.
• Bill Goff brought a butterfly weed plant, Asclepias tubersosa for each member to take home. In August, he will be giving a talk to LAGC about the plant and its relationship to the monarch butterfly.  Bill grew the plants from cuttings and said that the plants would be much happier and healthier being planted in our gardens now rather than sitting in the pot for a couple of months.  Great idea! Thanks, for the plant, Bill!  We’re looking forward to learning more from you in August.
• Dianne Machesney brought purple, white and peach Iris rhizomes to share with members. The rhizomes are from the home of PSMG Sandy Csikari whose garden we toured 2 years ago. Thanks for sharing, Dianne!
• Dianne Macchesney also had two articles published in the Post Gazette.
•  Spotted Lantern Fly   https://www.post-gazette.com/life/garden/2022/07/08/what-you-can-do-to-stop-spotted-lanternflies-pa-penn-state/stories/202207080002?cid=search

• Poison Hemlock  https://www.post-gazette.com/life/garden/2022/06/24/pa-poison-hemlock-noxious-weeds/stories/202206240014?cid=search

 This evening we were lucky enough to tour the gardens of 4 of our club members. Each beautifully maintained garden is obviously well-loved by its owners and it was a joy to see such a variety of plants and flowers.  Here are some of the highlights of each garden.

 Nancy and Marlow Madeoy’s garden — Asiatic lilies which are 5 feet tall — I bet they’ll be stunning when they bloom; variety of annuals in beautiful pots, including amaryllis in full bloom.

This picture is from prior year which RoseMary asked Nancy to send since we didn’t see them in full bloom.

Terry Sarver’s garden — the front and side garden are filled with mature perennials and shrubs such as butterfly weed, hostas, roses, clematis and many more favorites. Terry also has a collection of tropical plants around her pool such as elephant ears, Bird of Paradise and banana plants.  The wide variety of houseplants on her back porch was an awesome sight! Since these are all tender plants and won’t survive the winter outside in Pennsylvania, she has to take them back inside to enjoy thru the winter months.

 

Helen Dean’s garden — the side garden contains waist high raised beds to grow her garlic, peppers and tomatoes, as well as, a variety of perennials.  The back of the property is a wooded haven for deer so Helen utilizes an ultrasonic deer repellant. 

 

Peggy Elizeus’s garden — the white picket fence in the back of the yard is the perfect backdrop for many favorite perennials like shasta daisies, daylilies, beebalm, and alliums.  The side yard contained shrubs, spiderwort and grasses.

 

Thank you so much for giving us a tour of your gardens.

Photos by Dianne Machesney and RoseMary Highman