Pound Ridge Garden Club Elects New Officers, Hands Out Awards

POUND RIDGE, N.Y. – The landscape may be in winter’s grip, but the Pound Ridge Garden Club is already preparing for the 2013 growing season as it elected new officers to serve for next two years.

The new PRGC officers, elected at a recently held luncheon, from left: Judy Kennedy, treasurer, Connie Marchetti, secretary, Dee Aspros, 3rd vice president, Janet Buckbee, 2nd vice president, Deb Benjamin, 1st vice president, Annie Thom, president.
Photo Credit: *Coutesy of Pound Ridge Garden Club*

From left, Pound Ridge Garden Club members Amanda Sutton, Virginia Todar and Anne Lyman make swag to decorate signposts on town roadways through the holiday season.
Photo Credit: *Courtesy of Pound Ridge Garden Club*

Carol Cioppa, left, outgoing president of the Pound Ridge Garden Club, receives an award from Joan Goldberg, awards chair, at the clubs year end awards luncheon.
Photo Credit: *Courtesy of Pound Ridge Garden Club*

Town board member Dick Lyman receives the Marjorie Fay Sachs award for outstanding community service from Joan Goldberg, Pound Ridge Garden Club awards committee chair.
Photo Credit: *Courtesy of Pound Ridge Garden Club*

by Bob Dumas

01/03/2013 12:01 a.m.

Annie Thom, a 12-year member of the club and an award-winning floral designer, was elected new president. She and other officers were sworn in at the club’s awards luncheon at the end of 2012.

The luncheon capped off the annual workshop in which members make the wreaths and swag that decorate town buildings and signposts throughout the holiday season. Thom succeeds Carol Cioppa, who completed a two-year term as club president.

Other new officers are Deborah Benjamin, first vice president and program chair; Janet Buckbee, second vice president and flower show chair; Dee Aspros, third vice president and horticulture chair, Connie Marchetti, recording and corresponding secretary, and Judy Kennedy, treasurer.

Jeanne T. Nelson, representing the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State, presided over the swearing-in ceremony.

The club’s annual awards for design and horticultural achievement were also presented at the luncheon, as was the Margery Fay Sachs Award for outstanding contributions to the community and the club. The 2012 Sachs award recipient was Dick Lyman, a lifelong Pound Ridge resident, and a member of the Town Board. He has been a member of the Fire Department, the Elementary School Association, Police Department, Highway Department, and Zoning Board.

“The man never says no,” said Joan Goldberg, awards committee chair, in presenting Lyman with the award, a silver bowl, which will be displayed at the Town House.

Other award recipients were:

Carrie Sears, the Boyden Roseberry award for outstanding horticulture exhibit
Carol Cioppa, the Elizabeth Williams award for best vegetable garden and the Helen Follett Ochocki award for a perennial grown for three years
Joan Goldberg, the Cioppa-Lee award for imaginative garden design
Anne Lyman, the Dee Aspros pin for best plant grown from a bulb, tuber or rhizome
Annie Thom, the Florence R. Casey award for outstanding table arrangement
Mary Miranda, the Augusta Carter award for best flower arrangement displayed in the library
Connie Marchetti, the Marietta de Blonay award for a miniature design exhibited in a flower show.
Virginia Todar, the Gladys Wallingford award for outstanding participation by a new member.

The Pound Ridge Garden Club is a community service and educational organization, founded in 1941 and affiliated with National Garden Clubs Inc., Federated Garden Clubs of New York State, Inc., 9th District. Membership is open to anyone interested in horticulture, floral design, environmental planting and resource conservation.

For more information, contact Patricia Napoli, membership chair, at 203-862-9118.

Click here to follow Daily Voice Pound Ridge and receive free news updates.