Goldie Reeves

We moved to Woodland Heights, just off 9th Avenue, back in the earlier 1960’s. My mother was a young Navy widow and I was starting third grade at OJSims elementary school. Mrs. Reeves was a member of the Pensacola Federation of Garden Club Members and known for her cultivation of African Violets. Her husband Chester made her several multi tiered wooden plant stands for her to display them on. I remember going to visit her on multiple occasions. She would tell me it was important to talk to your plants. She would lean gently over and tell one how beautiful it was, as it sat on the top tier alone. And then she would tell another to bloom and grow and it will one day get to be on the top stand. Mrs. Reevs shared a healthy African Violet with me, and Mr. Reeves even gave me a three tiered stand to place my plant on. Over the years I became in love with plants, but never was successful with African Violets. Mrs. Reeves was also know for her flower arrangements. She shared with my mother that she would get some of her inspiration for other’s creative arrangements, so she would go after a funeral to see the flowers at a grave sight. One day she went and was kneeling to inspect the flowers when she heard a car door shut. Lars. Reevs stood up to see a woman begin walking towards the grave sight she was at. The woman rushed back to her car, slammed her car door shut and sped off. Mother and Mrs. Reeves laughed s they both knew that widow must have thought Mrs. Reeves the ‘ other woman’, or maybe the woman in the car was ‘ the mistress’. I will always have fond memories of growing up on Ash Drive and the years I grew to love the woman that inspired me with plants and the perfect yard!