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Nancy
was born on a small farm southwest of Garden City,
Kansas.
There were wheat fields, cattle,
pheasants, and sunflowers – but no iris.
High school and college years were
spent in Garden City and
Emporia,
Kansas.
After college she moved to
Kansas City
to complete an internship in
Medical Technology. |
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Employment for the next 30 years was
again in southwestern
Kansas, primarily at St. Catherine
Hospital. She and her husband were blessed
with a daughter - Sheila, who now lives in Lancaster, California. Through these
years – Nancy never grew many plants – including the iris flower.
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One of the biggest memories of her
early years on the farm was the Herbert Clutter murders – the book In
Cold Blood written by Truman Capote was based upon this tragedy. |
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When asked, most people think
Kansas
and Tornadoes, and rightfully so. There
are often severe storms and damaging winds in
Kansas
and Oklahoma. Several scenes in the motion
picture Twister were filmed live
in
Kansas
near where
Nancy
lived.
The photo of the tornado above was
taken March 13, 1990 as it roared through Hesston and other Kansas
towns. It
was on the ground for more than two hours, and it was at times over
a half-mile wide. It caused
millions of dollars of damage and two deaths. |
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Another famous tornado was the
basis of yet another motion picture
The
Wizard of Oz based on the book of same title written by L. Frank Baum
in 1907. In this movie,
starring Judy Garland, the story immortalized the little girl from
Kansas
, Dorothy Gale, who was transported by a Kansas
tornado to the magical Land of Oz. The
yellow brick road lead to Dorothy’s House in Liberal, KS, built
in 1907-09 and was given to the Seward County Historical Society. |
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High school girls, wearing ruby
slippers like those shown here, escort visitors through the museum. |
In 1973, Nancy and husband purchased
a first home from a George with house number 1016.
In 1993, Nancy
purchased a different home on George Street
with house number 1610.
In 2003, she sold this home to a man named George.
This was not a first coincidence related to this home.
Nancy
planted her first iris, Ola Kala, at this George Street
home.
Other iris were obtained, but none had names.
Many of these "orphan" iris became favorites, as most
first iris plants are.
A few years later, more named varieties were purchased from Schreiners’
Gardens. Grass was dug and the
orphans were moved to the alley. Thus,
she named her garden – Orphan Alley. |
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Above - a section of the Orphan
Alley Garden. |
In 1997,
Nancy’s love of irises lead her to other activities.
A co-worker invited her to an iris show, and afterwards to a large garden
display – with a
Nancy Street
address. The next year, she
attended this same show, and afterwards looked forward to seeing the garden
again. But the garden was gone. Later
she learned the owner had died. Even
later, she learned that this person was Keith Fillmore – the president of the
GCAIC (Garden City Area Iris Club) – AND – that he once lived in the George Street
home!
Nancy’s activities associated with iris included joining GCAIC and serving as
president, serving as Director on Region 18 Board, gaining accreditation as AIS
Judge, and learning to design and publish a regional web site.
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To be a better web designer, she
decided to take her own photographs at a National Convention in Dallas,
Texas,
in 2000. Her daughter Sheila
Baier (pictured here) joined her. They
met many new irisarians and attended several sessions at the convention. |
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Among the new acquaintances,
Nancy
met Dave Silverberg.
Later, by email, Dave offered a few Historic Iris to add to her
collection
in the Georgetown Historic Bed on George Street
(shown below).
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After an extensive two year
correspondence by email, Dave and Nancy met again in
Memphis
at another National Iris Convention.
Their
friendship blossomed. One year later,
Nancy
judged her first Iris Exhibition in
Oregon
while visiting.
In July, 2003,
she moved to
Oregon
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