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By, Dorothy Willott

Virginia McClintock was a housewife who loved flowers, especially irises. She had grown up with flowers as her mother grew many and used them in flower arrangements. She joined the American Iris Society (AIS) and began corresponding with other iris lovers in Region Six (Ohio, Michigan and Indiana). In 1950 the Regional meeting and garden tours were to be in Columbus, Ohio. Virginia wanted to meet those with whom she was corresponding and made arrangements to attend the meeting. Her husband worked weekends and they had only one car, but he was able to get passes on the train from Cleveland to Columbus for her and their daughter, Dorothy.

The garden tours in Columbus were amazing. They saw their first true pink irises and learned how irises were hybridized to obtain new varieties. Dorothy went home and made crosses on her mother’s irises and some were successful. She planted the seeds in her father’s cold frame and they came up the following spring. Almost all of them bloomed the second spring. Although none of them were improvements on existing varieties, they sparked the interest of Virginia, Dorothy and Dorothy’s soon to be husband, Anthony Willott, to try further crossing.

In spring of 1958, Virginia obtained the names and addresses of all AIS members in Northern and Eastern Ohio, and sent them invitations to meet at her home in North Olmsted, Ohio. The meeting was held at 2:00 PM on April 13, 1958 with fifteen people attending. It was decided to hold election of officers at the next meeting at the home of Mrs. C. S. Dangler in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Those attending the initial meeting were:

  • Mr. & Mrs. J. E. McClintock Mrs. C. S. Dangler
  • Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Nitchman Mrs. N. S. Zajack
  • Mr. & Mrs. C. D. Evans Mrs. Ernest Pirro
  • Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Willott Mrs. R. C. Ingham
  • Mr. & Mrs. E. H. Martindale Mr. A. L. Randall

The second meeting of NEOIS was held at Mrs. Dangler’s home with additional members Mrs. Pochurek and Mrs. Lippay attending. It was decided to become an affiliate member of the Garden Center of Greater Cleveland which would permit us to hold meetings at their east side and west side locations. Officers elected were Mrs. McClintock for President, Mrs. Pochurek for Vice-President and Mrs. Ingham as Secretary-Treasurer.

An iris exhibition was planned to be held on June 3, 1959, however, it had to be cancelled because the Garden Center of Greater Cleveland Building at Wade Park Lagoon was flooded. The first official NEOIS iris show was held on May 28, 1960, at Taylor’s Southgate store. The Silver Medal for the most blue ribbons was awarded to Mrs. McClintock; the Bronze Medal for second most blue ribbons was awarded to Mr. Steve Moldovan. The second iris show was held on June 3, 1961, at the community Room of Cleveland Federal Savings in Middleburg Heights, Ohio. The Silver Medal was awarded to Mr. Steve Moldovan and the Bronze Medal to Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Willott. The next few iris shows were held on May 28, 1964. May 15, 1965, and May 28, 1966. NEOIS has continued to hold iris shows and at times held both an Early Iris Show
and an Annual Iris Show at Tall Bearded Iris peak bloom time.

At the Regional level, NEOIS first hosted the Region Six Fall Meeting on October 8 and 9, 1960, at the Coe Memorial Building in North Olmsted. The Society did not hold an iris show in 1962 because they hosted the Region Six Spring Meeting and Garden Tours at bloom time. The Society has hosted regional meetings a number of times since then.

In 1961 a new slate of officers was elected: Mr. Steve Moldovan for President, Mr. Joseph Nitchman for Vice-President, Mrs. Josephine Kerekes for Secretary and Mr. John Rusk for Treasurer. Mr. Nitchman had to take over as Acting President in late 1961 and early 1962 because Mr. Moldovan was called to active duty in the U. S. Army because of the Cuban Missal Crisis. Members of the society volunteered to weed Mr. Moldovan’s commercial iris garden while he was away. In 1962 John Rusk became Vice-President and Anthony Willott became Treasurer. The 1963 election made Anthony Willott President, John Rusk, Vice-President, James McClintock Treasurer and Irene Milota Secretary. Mrs. Milota later resigned as Secretary and was replaced by Antoinette Repp. Anthony Willott was elected as Regional Vice President in the fall of 1964 and declined reelection as NEOIS President, John Rusk then became President and Joseph Nitchman again became Vice-President. All new officers were elected in 1965: Dorothy Willott President, Joseph Batcha Vice President, Rose Sorna Secretary and Justin Baum Treasurer. The 1967 election added a Second Vice-President, Antoinette Repp and made Frances Holecek Secretary and Josephine Kerekes Treasurer. Of these early officers, only Dorothy Willott and Frances Holecek are still active in the society (Most of the others are deceased.).