When you stay with something 50 years, you are committed. You must have found enough pleasure and satisfaction in what you are doing to stick with it since that is a long span for any life. Fifty years in Crown Garden Club means you also like plants, digging in the dirt, and making the earth more beautiful for you and others. Four members of Crown Garden Club have been active members for 50+ years: Judy Massey, Carol Cartwright, Susan Keith, and Suzie Heap.
Massey and Cartwright listed the people as one of the dominant reasons for enjoying the club. When it started, the members were mostly Navy wives who had lived all over the world, but the current membership includes women from different areas of life and few connected to the military. The original meeting place limited the membership to 50. As Crown Garden Club outgrew the American Red Cross Building, Bridge and Bay Garden Club emerged.
Massey’s Navy husband Lance had previously lived in Coronado, but she arrived in 1970 with their two-year-old son for his duty. She met his parents’ friends who included the couple in the party gatherings and introduced them to other residents.
“Then there was a little knock on my door, and it was Fran Marshall, and she said, ‘You need to join the Garden Club.’” After protesting that she did not know very much about gardening, the response…
