Day Lily Club awards scholarship to MCC horticulture student

By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
Feb. 5, 2004
Laurie Thomas, a second-year horticulture major at Meridian Community College has received a $500 scholarship from the Hemerocallis Society and the MCC Foundation.
She said she believes she has found her true calling.
Bob Martin, president of the local Hemerocallis Society, is originally from England, but moved to Meridian six years ago to work with T-45 "Goshawk" engines. The engines are built by Rolls Royce and used in aircraft at Naval Air Station Meridian.
Martin said he thinks Thomas was the perfect recipient for the scholarship.
Gail Barton, Thomas' instructor at MCC, said she is grateful to the club. The local Hemerocallis Society has more than 70 members, and Martin said there are more than 100 varieties of day lilies. Some, he said, are even named after Meridian residents like the Ben Arthur Davis and Mary Alice Stokes.
Some of the other interesting names of day lilies are Highland Lord, Double Firecracker, Route 66, Bamboo Blackie, Ed Murray and Restless Heart.
Martin and Thomas have teamed up with Cheri Barry of the Meridian chapter of the American Red Cross as a part of the Keep America Beautiful campaign. Thomas and Martin have planted more than 100 varieties of day lilies outside the Red Cross office on 24th Avenue.
The plants should be in full bloom in late in April, and Martin said the society will hold a plant sale on May 1. Money from previous plant sales, and a contribution from the Red Cross, funded Thomas' scholarship.
For more information about day lilies or the Hemerocallis Society, call 485-6119.