[medit-plants] Re: 20 years ago . . .

---

I remember very well Gary,  and the terrible story of the shooting. I also remember that we created a virtual garden to honor his memory - every member of the list posting a photo of a favourite plant, but I can't remember where we posted it.

Alessandra

Il 04/07/2019 18:41, Jeanne Bardems ha scritto:

Dear Sean,

Thank you for your memory. I knew of Gary Matson from the various ways he impacted his community and I appreciate this fuller information. I was not a member of Medit-plants during his time with the group but am not surprised that he was a participant. It is a hard reality that the kind of intolerance that inspired this tragedy is still with us today.

Jeanne B

On Mon, Jul 1, 2019 at 8:19 AM Sean A. O'Hara <s*@gimcw.org> wrote:

. . . while watching the evening news, I suddenly heard the name of an online friend.  There had been a shooting in Redding, California, 200 miles (322 km) from our home.  My wife and I were shocked as the story unfolded about the religion-inspired hate crime linked to the bombing of a local synagogue.  To the surprise of my wife, I explained that I had an email relationship with one of the victims - Gary Matson - who was a well-known member of this forum.
    Gary and I had just a day before exchanged some emails on topics of our shared interests - plants, botany, education, teaching.  I was inspired by his projects in this northern corner of our giant Central Valley, at one of the extremities of our Californian mediterranean climate region.  We shared similar ideas and encouraged each other.  I could not believe that he was now gone and under such troubling circumstances.
    Gary, and his partner, Winfield Mowder, knew their killers well, even helping them set up a stand at the local farmer's market.  The Redding community was shocked at the loss of these two visionary men whose contribution to the community is still felt today.  They also were given pause by how successfully their killers had concealed their inner feelings of hate.
    For at least a decade, while searching through my copious emails in search of something in particular, I might stumble upon my many rich exchanges with Gary.  Rereading their content, I was often re-inspired in my own efforts, in my own life.  While I culled old emails that were no longer needed (we were concerned about space usage in those days), I always made sure to keep those from Gary.  When the email system I was using ultimately was replaced by something newer, I made efforts to archive my old emails - unfortunately, and sadly, they were ultimately lost.
    Some of you may recall Gary and his contributions to this group in the late 1990s.  I searched for 'Gary Matson' in the online archive of this forum - hort.net - you can do the same if you wish: https://www.hort.net/lists/medit-plants/search.pl (be sure and check 'Search all years').  This archive, unfortunately, does not (yet) contain all the posts from the group's inception a few years prior to 1997, including many from Gary.
    For more information about this very sad event, and Gary and Winfield's life and contributions, see the following links.

https://web.archive.org/web/20000229034244/http://www.garysgarden.com/GaryMarcia.htm (a short write-up from Gary's ex-wife, Marcia Howe, courtesy of the Internet Archive's 'Way-Back Machine')
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Gary_Matson_and_Winfield_Mowder
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-Representative-Murder-of-Gary-Matson-and-Winfield-Mowder_tbl5_276597228

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/21/us/national-news-briefs-2-brothers-arraigned-in-gay-killing.html

Seán O.
https://seanaohara.wordpress.com/

--

Seán O.
https://seanaohara.wordpress.com/

-- 
Alessandra Vinciguerra
The Bass Superintendent of Gardens
American Academy in Rome