Volunteer Spotlight
Barbara Simmons
Barbara Simmons’ life is full of joyful simplicities … indulging in a good book on a lazy afternoon, contemplating the next colorful crochet project she’d like to complete, or riding her sea doo across a calm, morning lake to volunteer at the Gardens. It has also had its share of struggles. She has battled recurring head and neck cancer for nearly ten years. “It just messes you up,” she says of the condition, “but it’s maintainable.” She claims that greeting guests at the Pratt Welcome Center has been good therapy for her because it forces her to improve the clarity of her speech, which was affected by the disease.
She attributes her involvement with the botanical garden to her brother, Gary Simmons, whose artistic talents have been showcased annually during the Gardens’ plein-air painting event, Beauty and the Brush. He felt the tranquil setting would be a good fit for Simmons, who was having trouble adjusting to retirement. “I love the Gardens and meeting people from other places,” she admits. “It has really helped me heal.”
Simmons recently relocated to Hot Springs from Benton where she spent twenty-eight years as a librarian at Bryant High School and then four years as a manger of the public library. “If you’re not going to work, you might as well live in a fun town,” declares an upbeat Simmons, promoting the Spa City that for years was her summer home. She loves the fact that she can travel to the Gardens from her condo in less than five minutes by water and that her attire often elicits comments like these from guests waiting in the welcome center: “If the tour requires a life jacket, I don’t want to go!” She knows that humor – like a day spent at the Gardens – is always good medicine for the soul.
Barbara Sloan
Barbara Sloan remembers paddling across Lake Hamilton to Garvan Woodland Gardens, attracted by 3 cypress trees located in what she believes is now the Woodland Nature Preserve. She had heard rumors that Mrs. Garvan was planning her home and a garden on the property. Today, she now volunteers in the very spot she was attracted to years ago.
Leaving Hot Springs in 1991, Barbara started her college degree at 50 years of age, seeking a degree in Wildlife Management. She later graduated from Henderson State University with an Education Degree. After teaching out of state for many years, today lives in Hot Springs where she is closer to her 3 daughters and her grandchildren.
Barbara’s friends brought her to the Gardens, and she has been volunteering with us ever since. After completing her Master Gardener training, she took over the chairmanship of the Volunteer Horticultural Committee (aka: The DIGGERS).
Betty Burzlaf & Betty Mahon - Two Friends Volunteering Together
Betty Burzlaf and Betty Mahon are close friends and neighbors at Diamondhead. They have been volunteering at Garvan Woodland Gardens for several years, and they usually come together. Both Bettys have been faithful helpers in the administrative office with mailings and other clerical duties. In fact, the office staff calls them “our Bettys.” Recently Betty Burzlaf was trained to give golf cart tours, so now she volunteers twice as often. Betty Mahon has been traveling often because of illness in her family. However, when she is in town, she always responds to the Gardens’ requests for help.
Betty Burzlaf moved to Diamondhead in 1985 from Kenya where she had been working for Winrock International. She has a daughter who lives in Ohio and three grandchildren. Betty has also volunteered on the Beautification Committee at Diamondhead and enjoys playing bridge with her friends.
Betty Mahon is a retired Occupational Therapist who has lived in Diamondhead for 21 years. She has three daughters and 5 grandchildren who live in Little Rock, Texas and Oregon. In addition to her efforts for the Gardens, Betty volunteers with her church women’s group and serves on committees at Diamondhead. The two Betty’s met while playing bridge.
Betty Kilgore
There are many words to describe Betty Kilgore, the Gardens' co-volunteer of the quarter, and all of them would be glowing: however, the first one that comes to mind is "Wow!" She is a woman of boundless energy who, it seems, has never met a stranger.
When volunteering at the Gardens, Betty is the first person to greet members and visitors at the entrance. She makes a lasting and memorable impression with her enthusiasm. Betty volunteered in November and December by returning at night to serve cup after cup of hot chocolate and spiced cider to holiday lights visitors. Several guests were overheard saying they enjoyed Betty's sincere, humorous, and informative conversation almost as much as they appreciated the complimentary hot beverages.
When asked what was one of her favorite things to do at the Gardens, she replied, "Being a volunteer bartender for Fourth Fridays. During special events like that, you really get to meet so many people who actually become good friends. It's an added benefit of volunteering at the Gardens."
Volunteerism is nothing new to Betty who has also lent her warm, energetic personality to other organizations like Meals on Wheels, the Salvation Army, and the American Red Cross. Betty is a vibrant member of Garvan Woodland Gardens' team of volunteers.
Bill Grady
After living in Dallas and practicing architecture for 26 years, Bill Grady and his wife traveled the South looking for a place to call home during retirement. They stopped to see Hot Springs Village on their return trip, only because they had heard so much about it through advertisements. The two of them chose the Village for its peacefulness and of course, golf courses!
Bill served on the HSV Architectural Control Committee for 5 years after he moved to the Village. Once he had served his time, he started searching for new volunteer opportunities. As a Charter Member of the Garden, Bill chose to dedicate his Tuesday mornings to driving a golf cart at Garvan Woodland Gardens. Bill says he, “looks forward to his morning shift once a week.”
Just as they had in Dallas, Bill and his wife have become very involved in their church and are very active in short-term mission work.
Bill is a dedicated volunteer and we enjoy his presence throughout the year.
Billy Sim Sisler
Billy Sim Sisler did her homework when she was considering locations for retirement. Knowing she wanted to keep active during her leisure years, she shopped around for a place that would provide her with an abundance of volunteer activities and cultural doings. “The opportunity to volunteer at the Gardens is one of the reasons I moved to Hot Springs,” admits Sisler, who relocated to the Spa City from Illinois just last summer. “The Gardens was the crowning point in whether I would have a good, successful retirement,” she says, explaining its continuous need for volunteers was a key element in making her decision.
Though she has lived in several states during her life’s journey – with stints in Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Illinois – Sisler, a native of Arkansas, always envisioned returning to the Natural State to retire. While her move to Hot Springs left behind two children and grandchildren, she’s been reunited with family in nearby Little Rock and Nashville, where she grew up.
Sisler immersed herself in the pulse of the Gardens just two months after settling in, working special events and driving golf cart tours. A retired program manager with a background in parks and recreation, she is no stranger to the Gardens’ hectic event schedule and is quick to praise the staff. “You couldn’t ask for a better supportive staff,” she says. “Everyone has been so helpful.”
When she’s not volunteering at the Gardens or substitute teaching, Sisler, likes to socialize with friends at Hot Springs’ many cultural festivities. She also enjoys hiking at Lake Ouachita.
Bob Ashmore
Volunteering in the Pratt Welcome Center at the Gardens on Saturday mornings is a joy for Bob Ashmore, who has lived in Hot Springs since his retirement nearly fifteen years ago. “I mainly like it for selfish reasons,” he says. “I love the Gardens!” His duties as a greeter and golf cart tour driver give him the opportunity to meet and mingle with visitors from across the United States.
Originally from New Jersey, Ashmore himself has lived on opposite ends of the country, moving to California to teach after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. “I was a professor at the University of California School of Medicine,” he says. “It was a wonderful job. I taught the growth and development of skeletal muscles, muscle diseases, muscular dystrophy … things like that.”
Ashmore says he discovered Hot Springs while driving through the city on his way to Fayetteville to meet a professor at the University of Arkansas whose work was of interest to him. “I fell in love with the lakes and decided to buy a house in case I wanted to come back and retire.” His discovery of the Gardens only increased his love for the Spa City.
He says volunteering at the Gardens on a weekly basis gives him the opportunity to enjoy its beautiful, seasonal changes – a transformation that progressively touches each section of the Gardens throughout the year – which leaves him hard pressed to choose a favorite. What keeps drawing him back to the Gardens is the feeling he experiences when visiting there. “It’s peaceful,” he reflects.
When Ashmore’s not at the Gardens, he likes to work in his yard and keep current with developments in his former field by surfing the web. “The best thing about being retired is that you don’t have to do anything,” he surmises. He often travels back to California to visit his son and daughter and his two grandchildren.
Carolyn and J.T. Thomason
Carolyn Thomason and her 15 year-old son, J.T., may be recent volunteers to the Gardens, but they’ve already paid their dues. They were indispensable during the holiday lights season, contributing hundreds of hours between them.
A recent widow, Thomason says she turned to the Gardens for healing after a friend urged her to “get out of the house” just months after losing her husband of nearly twenty years. “I was not a people person before I started volunteering at the Gardens,” admits Thomason, a soft-spoken-women who kept close to home, raising a family and devoting herself to a husband who was sick for many years. “I was scared of people,” she says. “Now I talk to everybody.”
Even though her home is a stones throw from the Gardens, Thomason, a native of Hot Springs, says she had never visited it before. Now that she’s ventured out and discovered new friends there, Thomason is contemplating the impact the Gardens might have on her future – she’s considering applying for an AmeriCorps position and going back to school someday.
A ninth grader at Lakeside School, J.T. regularly accompanied his mother to the Gardens, volunteering nightly to run the model train or assist with marshmallow duty while she drove golf cart tours. “He loved volunteering,” says Thomason, recalling his favorite job was helping sell holiday fare for the Gardens’ Chipmunk Catering crew. Both plan to continue their association with the Gardens, knowing each day that passes their hearts will heal a little more and their futures will look a little brighter.
Cecil and Doris Jones
Helping others through volunteerism plays a key role in Cecil and Doris Jones’ retirement. The pair, who celebrates forty-six years of marriage this month, is happy to lend a hand when needed, whether it be assisting with holiday lights at the Gardens or helping with the pumpkin patch at their local church. “We try to keep a little busy,” admits Cecil, who has been happy to accompany Doris to the Gardens for the past seven years. Her interest in master gardening brought her to the site as a digger, before accepting the role of co-chairman of the holiday lights committee for several years. “The first time we put up lights, it was like a mud hole out on the Great Lawn,” recalls Cecil. “It was nothing but water.”
Adverse conditions don’t deter this committed couple, originally from Jonesboro. Mission projects through their local church have taken them to disaster-struck Biloxi, Mississippi to rebuild houses and to Mexico to construct “little cabañas” or cabins. “We lay blocks and help put on the roof and siding,” says Cecil of the modest Mexican structures. A future project will take them to Costa Rica to erect a new church. “We also belong to the Nomads,” says Cecil, explaining that the group consists of recreational vehicle owners who travel as a mission outreach ministry for the United Methodist Church using their skills to provide volunteer labor for projects that support churches, camps, youth centers, and more.
Retired from a sales position with Levi Strauss, Cecil and Doris, a retired RN and health occupations teacher, have three children and ten grandchildren scattered across the United States. “Anytime the children or grandchildren need us, we’re willing to take off and do whatever to help,” says Cecil. “Family comes first.”
Claude O'Gwynn
Volunteers like Claude O’Gwynn are similar to garden roses – they’re resilient and likely to perform well in most climates! A volunteer since August of 2006, O’Gwynn weathered the arduous duties that go along with the Holiday Lights Display – checking strings of lights to ensure they were free of burned-out bulbs and then driving golf cart tours during the cold, hectic holiday season.
Undaunted by the frantic pace he endured during the holidays, O’Gwynn has committed up to three days a week to driving golf cart tours and is on emergency call when necessity demands it. He has also stepped out of his comfort zone to teach a class at the Gardens on growing roses – a longtime love that has spanned over half a century. Focusing on the do’s and don’t of roses, the lecture was his first. “I’m not that comfortable in front of an audience,” he admits.
O’Gwynn is a garden enthusiast who holds degrees in horticulture from Auburn University and forestry from Yale. “After the military, I was a tree breeder for a geneticist,” he says of his past work experience, which included a position at International Paper in Mobile, Alabama before moving to Arkansas and putting his talents to work for Weyerhauser.
His love for roses is simple. “If you give them a little bit of effort they will reward you with blooms longer than just about any other plant,” he says. He and his wife, Barbara, also a volunteer at the Gardens, spend their free time tending a variety of the lovely blooms in their yard.
Denny Zymboly
In 2001, Denny Zymboly and his wife Rhonie moved to Hot Springs Village after Denny’s retirement from a sales management career with Fort James Corporation. Having grown up in the Allegheny Mountain area of Western New York and Pennsylvania, Denny and Rhonie found Hot Springs Village in the Ouachita Mountain region a close duplication of their childhood homes, with the added benefit of mild winters.
In just 3 years, the Zymbolys have become involved with many civic activities and volunteer organizations. Denny’s activities in the Village include serving on the boards of the Village Genealogy Society and the Hot Springs Village Camera Club and membership in the Chanticleer Barbershop Chorus, Computer Club, the Hot Springs Village Symphony Guild and the Friends of Hot Springs Village. The Zymbolys are also active in the Presbyterian Kirk in the Pines where Denny sings in the choir and both he and Rhonie serve on the fellowship committee and are leaders of the Shepherd Group program.
Of course, in the eyes of the Garvan Woodland Gardens’ staff, Denny’s service as a Golf Cart Guide is his most important activity. Denny says, “I consider it a privilege to be a golf cart driver at Garvan Gardens. With little or no horticultural background, other than my appreciation of the beauty of God’s wonder, I am able to experience that beauty as a driver while sharing it with those who could not enjoy it without the golf cart program.
In addition to volunteering on a regular basis, Denny is always willing to be called in a crisis and at the last minute. In fact, if he has no schedule conflict, he usually says yes to these appeals.
Helen Bumpas
We are delighted to spotlight a lady who always has a smile on her face, especially when she's volunteering at the Gardens. Helen Bumpas is indeed a fun-loving and dedicated volunteer, celebrating her first year of service at Garvan Woodland Gardens.
Helen has been involved in volunteerism most of her adult life. She began her volunteer service with the Gardens shortly after her first visit. "I'm in love with the Gardens," she says. One of Helen's favorite areas of the Gardens is the Canopy Bridge and Singing Springs Gorge. When asked why, Helen replied, "When you cross the Canopy Bridge and hear the sounds of the Singing Springs, you get a feeling of tranquility and peace." She finds it to be a place of calm and relaxation, even when she's touring visitors on a golf cart.
Helen is one of our premier golf cart drivers and maneuvers the six-seater with ease. Even when the request for golf carts becomes hectic, she maintains her infectious smile and energy. We had record numbers of visitors in the Gardens during our Holiday Lights season, which brought an increased need for golf cart services. Helen is an incredible volunteer who received so many compliments we thought we might have to name a golf cart after her!
In addition to volunteering at the Gardens, Helen juggles many other projects, including the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. When asked what she would say to someone who has not yet visited the Gardens, Helen replied, "You just can't miss the most beautiful place in Hot Springs. It is an incredible place of tranquility that helps you get away from the hustle and bustle of life."
Joan Urbanek
Joan Urbanek has been at the Gardens for almost 3 years. Her wonderful good nature is only outshined by her spirit and zest for living.
Joan has been married to husband Ron for 46 years as of May 2006 and is the mother of two daughters; Janine of Seattle, Washington and Holle of McHenry, Illinois. Joan says the secret to a happy marriage can be summed up into one word ‘compromise’ and “don’t spoil your kids, spoil your spouse.” If you knew Joan, like we do, you would understand that this special volunteer definitely tells it likes it is.
Joan enjoys doing things that are of benefit to others; although she has been heard saying that when she’s here at the Gardens, it is more of a benefit to her. She first became interested in volunteerism upon her retirement. She and Ron are from Chicago, and both retired from busy careers; Ron as a systems analyst and Joan as a human resource manager. What drew them to Hot Springs was Hot Springs Village and all the activities that the area has to offer. Not only does she volunteer with the Gardens, she also lends her time, zeal, and devotion to other places such as the animal shelter, Camp Quality (a camp for children with cancer), and the Chamber of Commerce.
Joan has been blessed with a youthful appearance and presence. When asked her what her secret of youth was she quickly replied, “It’s the Peter Pan syndrome; I am young because I think young. I won’t ever grow up.”
Loved by all who work with her, Joan is one of our greatest assets here at the Gardens. She volunteers as a golf cart driver and gives tours with humor and expertise. When asked what was it she loves about Garvan Woodland Gardens, she said, “It is the most unusual Garden I have ever visited; it is truly a natural garden, and that is what I love about it. It does not look man-made. It is the most natural of the gardens that continue to draw me here.”
John and Marilyn Ellett
Nature has a way of nurturing those who have suffered a personal loss according to John and Marilyn Ellett, volunteers at the Gardens for the past two years. The couple made a commitment to volunteer after the loss of Marilyn’s son, John. “I just needed a place to be quiet and rest,” she explains, choosing the tranquil site from past visits and the knowledge that as an outdoorsman, he would have loved the peaceful woodland peninsula.
Married for 31 years, the pair shares seven children between them, blending a family that’s now scattered across the United States from Florida to the Midwest where they have deep roots. The duo discovered the Hot Springs area after several direct mail marketing letters prompted them to stop in Arkansas on their way to visit family in Texas.
John, a retired engineer who worked for International Truck in Indiana for 30 years, also has a background in consulting and sales. Marilyn spent her work years in retail and as an elementary school teacher. She says that retirement “is the most difficult adjustment a married couple ever faces,” though volunteering at the Gardens has given them both a renewed sense of purpose and has inspired them to share this discovery with others. They have recruited many neighbors from their condominium complex to become garden helpers – assisting with holiday lights, greeting visitors, and driving golf carts like themselves.
While Marilyn finds spiritual comfort in the Gardens, John is impressed with the beauty of the terrain and its unique rock formations that make it a stand out from other gardens he has visited. “They look so natural,” he says. The pair plans to be part of Arkansas’ botanical garden for some time to come. “The Gardens is the crown jewel spot of our entertaining and family life,” confesses Marilyn.
Linda McLain
For Linda McLain, discovering the Gardens has been like glimpsing a bright light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Displaced from her home in Mississippi because of Hurricane Katrina, McLain is tentatively rebuilding her life in Hot Springs, finding the Gardens a place of healing for a wounded heart. “Everything here is very positive,” she says, explaining that the beautiful landscaping of the Gardens and the friendly people she’s meet while volunteering have had a “sunshine” effect on her life.
A widow in her mid-sixties, McLain admits that it has been a “hard road” since Katrina destroyed the costal retirement home she shared with her husband, who ultimately lost his life as a result of the storm. Her move to Diamondhead last summer has been good therapy. “I needed to get out of the damaged area at least for a while,” she says. A love for gardens drew her up the winding road to the Pratt Welcome Center and a chance gathering of volunteers undergoing orientation. “I said this is the place I need to be,” McLain remembers, “I fell in love with it immediately.”
In addition to driving golf cart tours, greeting guests, and helping out in the Gardens’ administrative office, she also donates time to Hot Springs Pet Therapy, an organization that provides pet visits to individuals in nursing homes and lessons in pet care to students in schools. She sometimes even borrows the warm, canine companions for an overnight stay at her home, giving them a brief reprieve from the shelter. A horse trainer and endurance rider before retiring, McLain has also “adopted” some horses she passes on her travels to the Gardens, often stopping to offer them a handful of carrots. For now, she is content to find joy in life’s simple pleasures.
Lu Elliott
Lu Elliott can’t recall the exact date she began volunteering at the Gardens, but she does remember it was around the time the Garvan Pavilion was dedicated – nearly four years ago according to our records. “Time flies when you’re having fun in retirement,” she says jokingly. An interest in conservation was the driving force behind her volunteerism. “I was very interested in the concept of the Gardens,” she says. “Keeping nature as it should be.”
A nursing instructor at National Park Community College during her professional working years, Elliott now lends her organizational skills to the Gardens, volunteering her time to help schedule docents for group walking tours. “It’s an important job,” says Robin Steigler, coordinator of Group Sales, who is quick to praise Elliott’s willingness to take on the indispensable duties she’s juggled for nearly a year now. “She’s done a fabulous job.”
Elliott is a docent herself, accompanying groups on self-guided walking tours and sharing the rich history of the Gardens. She says it’s the camaraderie of the Gardens’ volunteers and staff and that keeps her coming back as a volunteer. In addition to the docent scheduling that she does from her home, Elliott likes being active in the Gardens, conducting golf cart tours and working as a digger.
A busy grandmother, Elliot admits she does a lot of “baby sitting” for her three sons, who have given her and husband, Bill, four beautiful grandchildren.
Pierre and Amelie Faure
Like many volunteers who donate their time to the Gardens, Pierre and Amelie Faure have taken their turn at holiday lights duty. The pair, volunteers since last season, lent their hand to the lights on the landscape exhibit this year, helping with spray painting displays and checking lights for usability. Amelie, a retired school teacher, also assisted in organizing work crews. They say it was the call for help in the Gardens’ newsletter last year that sparked their interest in volunteering.
Natives of Louisiana, the couple spend time at the Pratt Welcome Center as well, greeting guests and driving golf cart tours. “Both of us enjoy the people we work with,” says Pierre, who also helps out on the Gardens construction and maintenance crew. A retired petroleum engineer for Texaco for 33 years, Pierre was hooked on volunteering after his first construction project - a display garden for the Little Rock Home and Garden show. Since then, he has helped with clearing trails, pulling weeds, and planting flowers.
Their move to Hot Springs Village after retiring in 1991 brought them to a rural community with four seasons, something they say was lacking at their Southern Louisiana home. “The natural beauty of the area was a draw,” says Pierre, adding the close proximity to their three children living in Louisiana and Texas was also a bonus. Since relocating, their home has often served as a safe haven for family members threatened by hurricane weather. Both are active in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and are members of Civitan, a service organization whose primary work is helping children who are developmentally disabled. He is on the board of directors, while she serves as secretary.
Ted Elzerman
All of our volunteers help keep the Gardens running smoothly, but Ted Elzerman keeps us on track! His talent for repairing model trains has been a blessing in maintaining the Garden Railroad – a feature finding favoritism with the young and young at heart in every season. “Every garden that has put one of these in has seen attendance increase,” says Elzerman of the timeless attraction. A member of the Greater Hot Springs Garden Railway Society, Elzerman has been involved with the Gardens’ model railway since its inception in 2004 when the group assisted the Gardens’ crew with its construction. “I came out and helped lay the track,” he says.
An avid collector of model trains for the past 40 years, he has garnered an extensive knowledge of their use and construction. This past fall he spent numerous hours servicing the Gardens’ trains - oiling their wheels and fine-tuning their engines - in his home workshop in preparation for their Holiday Lights run. He also assists in sending the trains away when they need extensive repair. Elzerman explains that the Gardens’ model railroad has three distinct lines on its tracks: a line pulled by a steam engine that delivers “logs” to the miniature saw mill, a line for hauling “clay” to the replica Malvern Tile and Brick Company, and a line of box cars that moves freight.
At home in the Village with his wife Liz, Elzerman says his backyard is just one of seven that hosts an outdoor railroad. The G scale track, along with the railway he has indoors, keeps him busy since his retirement from the Illinois State Police and his work as a forensic scientist.
Tom Salisbury
Tom Salisbury discovered the Gardens about five years ago after he and his wife, Ann, enjoyed a twelve-day tour of some of England’s finest botanical gardens. “That got us interested in gardens,” says the resident of Malvern, who went on to become a master gardener and realized Garvan Woodland Gardens was the perfect place to garner the service work hours he needed to meet the program’s requirements.
Since then Salisbury has become a devoted volunteer, helping out with preparations for the Holiday Lights Display and working twice monthly as a digger. “The volunteers are a nice group,” he says of the over dozen fellow workers who plant, weed, and deadhead flowers along the Gardens paths and trails. In fact, he has enjoyed their friendships so much they’ve even cruised together.
Though he and his wife are “flower nuts” – he meticulously maintains two acres of flowering shrubbery on his twenty-acre property - Salisbury is still a Naval man at heart. His twenty years of service aboard a submarine fostered another volunteer opportunity he loves. He acts as a tour guide aboard the U.S.S. Razorback, a submarine moored on the North Little Rock side of the Arkansas River near the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. Helping restore the tourist attraction is on his list of volunteer duties, too.
“Once you retire, your projects grow,” states Salisbury, a Pennsylvania native who has traveled the world. “Antarctica is the only continent that I haven’t been on,” he says. He moved to Malvern nearly thirty years ago, choosing the small, rural city because it reminded him of home.