Jo Jean Scott of Alvaton has been gardening for more than 40 years and is South Atlantic Regional director of National Garden Clubs Inc. Photo by Clinton Lewis

A rose grows on a small trellis outside Jo Jean Scotts Alvaton home. There are plans to replace the trellis with an arbor someday, so the rose that once belonged to Scotts late daughter, Dickey Jo Lynch, can continue to climb as a testament to the life of the young woman who died from an aneurysm. It just happened suddenly and was one of those things, Scott, 69, said of the death of her daughter, who at 38 died just days after the birth of her first child. The little girl, Clara, is now 4 and was visiting Scott last week. But God is good, Scott continued. I dont know how people get along in this world without faith. Faith comes in and sustains us. For Scott, nature goes hand-in-hand with faith. When she looks at the rose that her daughter once had at her Louisville home, she knows that Dickey is with me, Scott said. Shes here. … She was a gardener, too. Earlier this year, Scott was appointed South Atlantic Regional director of The National Garden Clubs Inc. the largest volunteer gardening organization in the world. Its a position Scott said she loves. Were very concerned about the environ-ment, water, trees, birds, Smoky the Bear or anything that could make life better for younger generations like Clara and Scotts other grandchildren, she said. As South Atlantic Regional director, Scotts job is to know the goals and responsibilities of the clubs national president, and to make members of Federated Garden Club in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina aware of them. She also gets to share her ideas. When youre a member of a Federated Garden Club, your outreach is amazing, Scott said. Thats why the theme she chose for the South Atlantic Region to focus on during her term, which ends in 2005, has to do with conserving water. We dont want to think that God is going to (continuously) pour water down on us, Scott said. Droughts will come. To adhere to Scotts theme, The Bowling Green Garden Club three weeks ago had what Scott called a mini-water workshop, in which members learned about all the ways water here can be saved. Scott, who is a member of the club and the Two Creeks Garden Club at Alvaton, said the workshop reminded her that we should be aware of other people (when using water). Everything we do affects our neighbor. Nature has long taught Scott that, she said. Jo Jean Parker Scott was born in Glasgow to the now late Dickey Wilkinson Parker and Gene E. Parker. Gene Parker was a farmer who also worked as a bank examiner for the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission. Through the years, Scotts family, including her sister, Jenna Begley, who now lives in Bowling Green, moved around for her dads FDIC job. During World War II, the family settled back home in Barren County so Gene Parker could keep an eye on the farm, and so the family could be close to his mother. Scott said even though she was little, she remembers her parents working in gardens. The memories prompted her to want to grow things after she graduated from Henry Clay High School in Lexington, where her family lived for years after the war, and after she married her husband, Jack Scott, whom she met as an elementary education major at Georgetown College. I guess its because when you plant the seed, if you care for it you can see this wonder of nature, Scott said. But gardening was not her top priority. As Jack Scott studied medicine at the University of Louisville, and Scott taught school in Jefferson County, we had many experiences, the most important of which was getting (Jack Scott) through medical school, Scott said. Then, the couple moved to Columbus, Ga., where Jack Scott was an intern for a year. During that time, Dickey Jo was born. Later, the family moved to Bowling Green, where Jack Scott was a general practitioner for eight years. In Bowling Green, the Scotts had two more children, Jack Parker Scott, who now lives in Charlotte, N.C., and Stephen Scott, who lives in Alvaton. Scott devoted herself to her family, she said, but occasionally shed take a small break to attend Bowling Green Garden Club activities. I was introduced to garden club activities here in Bowling Green by the wife of my husbands associate in general practice here, Scott said of Frances Russell, the wife of now-retired Dr. William Russell. She wanted me to meet people and have friends. The women were the kind of friends Scott enjoyed having, as were her friends at First Baptist Church, where Scott still attends with her husband. But Scott had to leave friends, club and church behind when her husband was called to serve in Okinawa, Japan, during the war in Vietnam. Our circle (in Japan) was the doctors at Kue Hospital, Scott said. Her hobby, however, remained flowers. Jack wanted me to do something I could bring back to the states, so I went to the local flower shop twice a week and learned Japanese flower arranging, Scott said. She adored the method called Sogetsu Ikebana and earned certificates to teach the art. Once her family moved back to the states this time to Lexington so Jack Scott could study anesthesiology at the University of Kentucky Scott taught friends from all over the state the art of Sogetsu Ikebana. We had a great time, she said. She was a member of the Hoe and Hope Garden Club in Lexington. The clubs name is reminiscent of a framed saying Scotts daughter would have years later: In a garden, there is wonder and delight, and in a garden there is hope. After living in Lexington for two years, the Scotts moved to Marietta, Ga., where the couple lived for a year. Then, in 1973, the couple moved back to Bowling Green so Jack Scott could practice anesthesiology at the new Greenview Regional Hospital. Scott said she was glad to be back here, where she and her husband built the rustic pine home in which they still live. Bowling Green-Warren County is a wonderful place, she said. We are so blessed with pure air and pure water and a fairly calm community. But Bowling Green is growing fast, and it tends to concern Scott because she knows that new roads and increased development mean flora and fauna often are destroyed. Change is good, Scott said. But were watching it with great concern. She shares her concern with her garden clubs. Its something shes been doing for years, including when she headed up The Blue Bird Garden Club for children at Alvaton Elementary School, when she was president of The Garden Club of Kentucky from 1987 to 1989 and when she was involved in other activities with The National Garden Clubs Inc. Now, Scott is pleased that several others from Warren County have prestigious positions in garden clubs. The alternate South Atlantic Regional director of The National Garden Clubs Inc. is Martha Morgan of Bowling Green, who is a past president of the Garden Club of Kentucky. Susan Throneberry of Alvaton is now editor of the South Atlantic Regional newsletter. Romanza Johnson of Bowling Green is the South Atlantic Regional corresponding secretary. Mary Keown of Bowling Green is president of the Garden Club of Kentucky. For more information about joining a local garden club, contact Scott at 781-2089.