In Memoriam: Lloyd E. Partain
A 1959 charter member of the Philadelphia Chapter ARS, long active in the Potomac Valley and Valley Forge Chapters ARS, Lloyd was born in 1906 in a log cabin in the piney woods of southwestern Arkansas. He passed away March 10, 1990, following a long illness.
Residency in the Philadelphia area, the Potomac Valley and eventual retirement in the Delaware Valley, nurtured love and understanding of azaleas and rhododendrons. Confessed gardeners in the northeastern part of this country are deeply indebted to him for his part in the introduction in the early 1950s of the Glenn Dale hybrids into this part of the world, adding a beautiful multicolored hue to our landscape during the blooming season. Teacher, counselor, friend...Lloyd's willingness to share of his encyclopedic knowledge of soils and plants long ago earned him the sobriquet "Mr. Azalea."
Many honors came during his lifetime: the 1979 Hugh Hammond Bennett Award of the Soil Conservation Society of America; the 1980 "Venerable Plough" Award of The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, for distinguished service to agriculture and conservation; the 1983 John Aston Warder Medal of the American Forestry Association; the 1984 Bronze Medal of the American Rhododendron Society, Philadelphia Chapter; and the 1986 Silver Medal of the American Rhododendron Society.