It’s that time of year again.

It’s almost spring. The camellias bloom first, then the azaleas take it from there. And every time I see a camellia, I can’t help but think of my father.

My daddy was a tall, strong and extremely intelligent man, and he loved camellias. His birthday was February 21, and as a child, the camellias always bloomed just before and during his birthday. The two went hand in hand.

He planted camellias in our yard when I was in elementary school. The plants were small, and I remember his consternation when they did not bloom for several years. Finally, though, the one he planted between the wall of his shop and our pumphouse developed buds and, on his birthday, sprung into full bloom. A couple of the others in distant parts of the yard did as well. Dad was a man of few words, and fairly gruff a lot of the time. But he loved the camellias.

We lost several of the camellias in September 1975, when Hurricane Eloise filled our yard with salty water from the bay. However, the ones further away from the house and the bay still thrived.

In the summer of 1983, we began noticing that Dad’s speech was beginning to slur and that he didn’t seem to be thinking clearly. The onset wasn’t sudden, as with a stroke, but we suspected perhaps a series of strokes. Mom finally got him to a neurologist in Pensacola, under the pretense that it was her appointment. As his mind was slipping rapidly, we were anxious...

My aunt, Ollie Sue Butler, was the tour guide at at Eden State Gardens for many years. Ollie Sue was the perfect fit for this position, being the great-niece of and having known W.H. and Katie Wesley, and also having known Miss Lois Maxon, who restored the old, scary Wesley house and donated it all to the State of Florida.

In the late 1970s or early 1980s – not sure of the year – Ollie Sue had the idea of decorating the old house for the Christmas season and opening it to the public, illuminated by candlelight only, on Christmas Eve as a “gift to the community.”

That first year, Ollie Sue enlisted her sister, Peggy Bailer, to assist her with decorating and finding hosts and hostesses for the event. Naturally, being a young Point Washington belle, I (and most of my cousins, and some of our community friends) was asked to dress up, look pretty and take turns in the rooms to greet people that came by. We didn’t need to remember very much about the furnishings, but Ollie Sue would give us each a crash course immediately before the doors were opened so that we would know the basics.

Of course, our primary purpose was to monitor the candles and watch for problems, as the Eden house is constructed of heart pine – which is better known as “kindling.” Quite selfishly, I asked for duty in the parlor, thinking that if I was going to be in a long dress near candles in a house built of kindling, I wanted to be near the door.
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