When I thought about it over the weekend I was hard pressed to think of any social group that took the time each year to honor those who have been members of the group. But the Ladies Club does more than that. They maintain a garden for everyone to enjoy as the one place where the lives of these women will be immortalized.

I have known for years that this group of women from around the lake is more than just a club. The first time I covered the ladies club was in 1993 when I attended one of their meetings in Rocky Mount. I remember on the drive to Rocky Mount thinking that this will probably be another meeting where only a few people show up. Imagine my astonishment when I arrived at the Holiday Inn and had trouble finding a place to park at noon on a weekday.

When I arrived I was really not very sure of what I was doing or how to do it. This was one of the first types of non-political events that I had covered. I knew there were more women here than I had imagined and I was afraid of making a fool of myself. I had several copies of our new newspaper with me and hoped to get a story about the event.

Even though the ladies didn’t know who I was they welcomed me and did their best to make sure I got the information needed and allowed me to take all the pictures I wanted. This was the first of many of their meetings and events that I have covered over the years.

I learned early on that this group of ladies was unique in many ways. To begin with they had one major goal, to bring the ladies of Lake Gaston together to help them feel welcomed at the lake. The charter members of the group recalled how difficult it was coming to the lake and starting a new life in a new area. It was also an area, where at that time, only one or two thousand homes were found along the roughly 350 miles of shoreline.

In May of 1994 I attended my first Memorial Garden Service. It was a hot beautiful spring day. I was slightly surprised by the number of people in attendance and the quality of the service. I was used to funeral and military memorial services but I had never been to a memorial service of this type. I was impressed by all aspects of the service.

What has always impressed me is the dedication that ladies of the club have to expanding and maintaining the gardens. From the earliest days of the garden they had a plan of how to keep color in it throughout the year. Every year hundreds of hours are spent working in the gardens. Often the husbands join the wives in keeping the gardens fresh. It is kept so fresh it looks like every memorial brick is cleaned and pampered every day.

By 1994 they had honored twelve members in the garden. As of this year’s service they will have honored seventy-one members. Those honored include the founder of the Memorial Garden, Past President Lynn Frongillo, and as of this year the first coordinator of the garden, Ellen Poteat.

For many people around the lake moving to the lake meant leaving family and friends behind in other parts of the country. Doing so meant that bonds of friendship were loosened. It also meant that as the years passed the distance became greater. We live in a time when the distance between family members also continues to grow.

By the time you are called home to God, a circle of family and friends that at one time included hundreds of people, may now be limited to less than a hundred. It must be a wonderful feeling for the ladies to know that even though they left behind one life the friends they found in the new life will keep their memory alive for many years to come. The Lake Gaston Ladies Club Garden is a living memorial to those ladies who stopped here and took the time get involved with other ladies and help make the lake a better place to live.

Future generations may not remember all the ladies behind the names of the past but the garden will be an eternal reminder of the footprints they left on the lake. Few of us can have that peaceful thought but for those who are blessed it truly is a living memorial.