Hand-crafted covered wagons made beautiful centerpieces

Are you ready for part three of this five-part series? Here we go.

  The Federated Garden Clubs of Yuma thank Cal Kelley for taking on the chairmanship of the recent convention. He hadn't been president of the Yuma Garden Club long before he jumped into this job.

  Cal accepted the chairmanship of the 2008 AFGC Convention just over a year ago. Not an easy job. Especially with all of us old (in years of membership - not age! Yeah, right!), mostly women telling him how it should be done.

  We didn't know it at the time but Cal had the background to ensure success. At age 17, he joined the Marines and was a radio operator for two years. Then he went into the Navy as a corpsman for four years.

  He left the Navy and went to college for two years where he earned a BBA in marketing, a BS in economics and also a teaching certificate. He then joined the Coast Guard for four years as a corpsman, then transferred to the Air Force and retired after 12 years. After retirement, he was a full-time student for a year at the University of Texas.

  Anyhow, see what it takes to organize a garden club convention.

  Back to the convention. The second of our four clubs, Yuma Garden Club, accepted the responsibility for the decorations and entertainment of the Friday night dinner at the Quartermaster Depot. It probably was the highlight of the convention. Tina Clark put it together but members of the Yuma Garden Club added the special details that made it so special.

  The YGC formed a committee with Jean Hobson as the chairwoman. Jean started to hold meetings right away and they came up with the idea to create covered wagons for the tables centerpiece, since Yuma's history was a major crossing for the westward bound.

  The committee got busy on the wagons. I understand Jean Hobson's husband was a major player in this project. Once he and they got the wooden wagons built, they proceeded to make the covering for covered wagons and didn't stop there. Each one was furnished inside, too, with bedrolls and other necessary items for the trip.

  Mary Lou Milstead headed up the group that turned the wagons into centerpieces for the tables that night at the Crossing Park. The completed wagons sat on a large napkin and were surrounded with dried cacti and flowers. Cholla rings flickered with battery operated tea lights. Indeed a sight to behold.

  Friday night's southwest supper was cooked and served by the sheriff's posse and Tina Clark. The DeGuello Gunslingers performed some of their shoot-out skits to the amusement of all.

  Marilyn Thornbury had taken charge of finding more entertainment. The Rainbow Station Kids sang several fun songs for us. During dinner, the Yuma String Ambassadors played appropriate music. What a treat for those of us from Yuma. The visitors from all over the state were mesmerized by these two youth groups of ours.

  I don't know who took the responsibility for the weather but that was perfect, too. What a beautiful evening. Just magic.

 Quote from Cal Kelley, president of Yuma Garden Club: "It takes a lot of people to put on a convention and we got a lot of help from the other garden clubs."

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Ellen Gardner, a Master Gardener who writes this column for the Federated Garden Clubs of Yuma, can be reached at 343-4020 or at gardner3028@netzero.com.