A Gift of Nature for the Love of The Glebe
As visitors drive into The Glebe, one of the first things they see is a gazebo in the center of the circle surrounded by a beautiful garden. Designed by Don Johnson, gardener and resident, and funded through the sales of commemorative bricks to residents, the garden is a central outdoor gathering place for residents and visitors alike. The gazebo offers a shady place to sit and rest during a walk around the campus, a place to view the beauty of flowers and butterflies, or simply a quiet respite for contemplation of nature's gifts.
Carole Edwards, resident and musician, created a fundraising brochure for the proposed garden and led the fundraising efforts, which provided $3,000 for the project. Ruth Frederick, an artist who also lives at The Glebe, created the cover art for the brochure (shown above). Glebe staff purchased a gazebo kit and put it together. The Blue Ridge Daylily Society donated 10,000 daylilies and Vernon Daniel, gardener and resident, grew dwarf crepe myrtles from seed for the garden. The end result is truly a thing of beauty that was conceived and built by the community members themselves—staff and residents—as a testament for their collective love of The Glebe. The garden is also perpetually remembered through a series of photographs that Don provided for notecards that are for sale in The Depot, The Glebe's popular café and convenience store.
Don and Peggy Johnson are lifelong lovers of nature, which is one of the reasons they moved to The Glebe. The sunrises and sunsets over the mountains, visible from just about anywhere on the campus, provide inspiration and beauty every day. They moved into the community in 2005 from Smith Mountain Lake, where they owned a campground. They began camping all over the country in 1991 in an RV and camped in every state except Alaska and Hawaii.
Don moved to the lake from New York, where he was an executive with the Boy Scouts, and met Peggy in 1981. She spent her career a school teacher, first in Georgia, then in Roanoke, where she taught elementary school music until she retired in 1987. Peggy began The Glebe Singers and still sings in nursing homes with a group from Smith Mountain Lake. Her lovely voice is heard often at The Glebe's numerous musical events. Everyone at The Glebe—residents, staff, and visitors—benefits daily from the Johnson's contribution to the life and love of the community.