Gardens have so many functions when you stop to consider it. They provide us with places to work, to think, to create, to celebrate and to mourn. They offer us the positive joy and renewal of spring and growth, and they offer the silent solace we often need in times of sadness.
Gaiety Hollow sits in an historic residential neighborhood, born in 1987 and parented by Dwight Smith. Dwight and his wife Pat lived in a nearby 1932 Clarence Smith designed house which also had a Lord & Schryver garden (1938),
and they became interested in the Lord & Schryver narrative, of which they had become a part . Dwight worked for the Oregon Department of Transportation and researched and wrote extensively about bridges and highways in the state of Oregon, co-authoring “Historic Highway Bridges of Oregon” with James Norman,
as well as preparing the nomination document for the Gaiety Hill/Bush’s Pasture Park Residential Historic District.
Sunday, at Gaiety Hollow, friends and family gathered to remember Dwight…and how he would have appreciated such a gathering in this garden. Words were spoken, acquaintances were renewed, toasts were made to Dwight and his friendship, his ironic humor, his love of preservation, and all things Oregon. And a silent toast from at least one person to the garden itself. Salute!
