Orange Downtown Alliance to Dedicate Downtown Garden to George Lewis
By Jeff Curtis, Director Orange Downtown Alliance | Posted: Thursday, July 01, 2010
On Friday, July 16th, the Orange Downtown Alliance will dedicate a downtown garden and bronze sculpture to George Lewis, native Orange resident, master gardener and beloved by many who knew him.
Longtime friend Dr. Barry Mangum lovingly explains this wonderful man's character. "George was a dear soul. He was a renaissance man, an artist. He loved the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Yankees. That man talked about baseball. He knew them all. He would talk baseball for hours. Of course George could talk about opera, classical music and the arts for hours. He was so well versed and rounded. Oh and he would sing! We'd get together and sing. He loved to sing."
"Not many people know it but George's grandma and grandpa were slaves. That family produced some of the most accomplished, learned citizens to come out of Orange and their roots truly were from slave history. George graduated from Hampton College where he excelled in botany and went on to be the Chief Horticulturalist for the City of Pasadena as well as superintendent in southern California's Descanso Botanical Gardens cultivating plants from around the world. He was responsible for designing Rose Bowl parade floats coordinating colors and textures to fit the particular floats. Even after he returned to Orange and bought the 80 acre farm they used to fly him back and forth to supervise the float designs."
"George was involved with the Orange Downtown Alliance for about four years and very active in the Design committee. His love of flowers was unbiased. He loved the everyday begonia as much as he loved the exotic lily of the Nile – a flower he introduced in several shades of indigo blue".
The bronze sculpture of George's legendary baseball cap and his well-worn gardening gloves mounted on a stone bench is the masterpiece of internationally known classical figurative sculptor Thomas Marsh. Marsh has created many public monuments in California, and has works in public and private collections throughout the U.S. He was the concept designer and sculptor of the Victims of Communism Memorial (2007) in Washington, DC. and has studied extensively in Italy.
"The choice of a stone bench in the garden accomplishes both the functional and aesthetic passions inherent to George. He would certainly have supported the public art piece. And the sculpture of his hat and gloves was meant to be a simple and honest memorial to George in his role as Master Gardener" stated longtime friend John James.
In researching information on George Lewis, I came across a quote he made which seems to sum up this marvelous gentleman's character: "I love all plants. There are no plants that are not acceptable on my list, just as there are no Christians that are not acceptable in the sight of Christ."
The ceremony will begin at 9am on the corner of Main and Madison streets in downtown Orange. The public is encouraged and welcomed to attend.
