goodbye Lois Hole

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I heard the name 'Lois Hole' on the news while we were eating lunch today, along with 'cancer,' and 'died.' The name sounded uncannily familiar.

I jumped up to check my bookshelf, while my husband asked, "Who's she?" Sure enough, there among the other gardening books, were the two beauties, Lois Hole’s Favorite Trees and Shrubs, and Lois Hole’s Perennial Favorites.

I always liked these books, not only for their colorful photos and helpful descriptions, but for the smiling, yet ordinary looking woman on the cover. But Lois Hole, I discovered today, was no ordinary woman. On top of running a very successful greenhouse business with her husband, and authoring ten gardening books, she was active in the community serving on numerous boards, and as the Chancellor of the University of Alberta. She was also a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail, Edmonton Journal, and the Edmonton Sun, and was the writer of the Canadian portion of the 1999 Old Farmer’s Almanac Gardening Companion. She has appeared regularly on the "Grapevine" segment of CBC TV’’s Canadian Gardener. (Her I'll Never Marry a Farmer, looks interesting.)

In 1999, she was appointed Alberta’s Lieutenant Governor.

She was loved for her warmth, cheerfulness, enthusiasm, the soft spot she had for kids, and her hugs.

Goodbye Lois Hole. You have helped make the world a more beautiful place - in more ways than one.