Idaho Rose Society papers

The Idaho Rose Society was organized by Bea Roper in February 1978. The society was instrumental in saving the Municipal Rose Garden in Julia Davis Park, which had been created in the late 1920s but had fallen into disrepair by the late 1970s, when garden columnist Marguerite Lewis proposed setting up a Memorial Fund to raise money for the maintenance and keeping of the Rose Garden. Marguerite gave the idea some publicity in her weekly column called "Woman With a Hoe" in the Idaho Statesman, and even donated the first $50 in memory of her late husband, T.D. Lewis. The group has been maintaining and improving the garden’s health and vibrancy ever since.