Garden State Iris Society

Big Winner, History Revealed
at 2005 Banquet

PEMBERTON, N.J. — On a sunny October day, RVP Vince Lewonski presented the most 2005 GSIS awards to Gary Slagle at the annual Garden State Iris Society awards banquet.

[See complete list of winners] [SHOW PHOTOS]

Also noted: Chun (Frank) Fan's TB introduction, Diana Shore, has earned an AIS honorable mention.

Nancy Szmuriga's presentation was an eye-opening history lesson on the origins of our local club.

AIS Region 19, now also known as GSIS, started in the 1920s as part of an American Iris Society subdivision that included:

• All of New Jersey,
• New York State, and
• Western Connecticut.

With the region’s activities centering at Presby Gardens in Montclair, N.J., it was usually just the New Jersey members who participated.

So in the early 1960s, following several years of AIS consideration, Region 19 was revised to include only New Jersey and Staten Island, N.Y.

The rest of New York and western Connecticut were returned to their respective regions.  But it was only recently (after much pushing from 2002 GSIS RVP Ray Rogers) that Staten Island was removed from our region and incorporated into Region 2, New York.

Finally, Region 19 comprised one state only: New Jersey!

Since its quiet beginnings, Region 19 affairs evolved into regular shows, sales and garden tours, with membership peaking in the 1980s. Nancy topped off her talk with nostalgic photos from that period ...

... And left everyone with a seasonal goodie bag.

(Photos courtesy of Catherine Button)

2005 AIS Symposium results for Region 19