A Life In A Garden

Reposted By Linda Stewart, 5 January 2022

The story about Gene and Beth Paschall is featured in the article “A Life In A Garden” by Nina A. Koziol, Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), Sunday, 11 Aug 2013, Page 6-23.  Her article features Patricia Lanza, Kay Mangan, and Gene and Beth Paschall.

Gene and Beth Paschall have gardened in their Palos Heights, Ill., home for 50 years.  He’s 91 and she’s 90.  Their garden is filled with more than 100 rhododendrons and azaleas, many of which Gene hybridized.  There are towering spruce trees — once seedling that they brought back from vacation and planted.  Mass plantings of ferns, ginger and other ground covers, along with many shrubs and small ornamental trees, help keep maintenance to a minimum.  The couple are outside everyday in good weather, doing a few chores.

“Beth carries a plastic bucket and pulls weeds for a while,” Gene said.  “And as soon as he gets wobbly, he comes in,” Beth said.  A landscaping service cuts the lawn, and their son mulches the beds and planted their vegetable garden this spring.  But Gene is out there with pruners in hand, snipping off any dead or broken branches.

“I hate the idea, the thought of going into a condo.” says Gene, who spent several stints in the hospital last year.  “I like to look at the rhododendrons every morning, and they’re pretty low maintenance.  It’s very therapeutic.”

Eugene Forest “Gene” Paschall, the son of Samuel Fred Paschall and Ota Vera  Hatfield, was born 7 January 1922 in Neosho, Newton Co., MO, died 1 April 2018, and was buried in the Fairmount-Willow Hills Memorial Park Cemetery in Willow Springs, Cook Co., IL[i].   Eugene married Elizabeth G. Lincoln.

Elizabeth “Beth” G. Lincoln, daughter of James William Lincoln and Olive Geneva Mason, was born 25 January 1923, died 6 June 2018, and was also buried in the Fairmount-Willow Hills Memorial Park Cemetery in Willow Springs, Cook Co., IL[ii].

[i] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188865434/eugene-f-paschall

Obituary Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) Wed., 11 Apr 2018, Page 2-6

National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Colorado, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 185

Year: 1930; Census Place: Coal Creek, Montrose, Colorado; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0025; FHL microfilm: 2339982

Year: 1940; Census Place: Oak Grove, Montrose, Colorado; Roll: m-t0627-00472; Page: 14A; Enumeration District: 43-21

[ii] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/190478256/elizabeth-g-paschall

Obituary Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) Sun., 17 Jun 2018, Page 1-39

Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 11, Rio Grande, Colorado; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 0013; FHL microfilm: 2339986

Year: 1940; Census Place: Rio Grande, Colorado; Roll: m-t0627-00478; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 53-16