My favorite memory of Paul Meyer comes from a visit my first husband and I made to the Morris Arboretum around 1990. We had just purchased a home in Erdenheim and wanted to plant an evergreen that could begin as a Christmas tree and end as a specimen plant in our front yard. 

For some reason, I had latched on to wanting a Serbian Spruce. We noticed a youngish man riding his bicycle up a rather steep incline at the Morris, and I flagged him down and asked him if he knew where the Serbian Spruces were. He jumped off the bike and enthusiastically ushered us back down the hill, across the road, and into the farm area that is mostly off-limits to Morris guests. He pointed out some handsome evergreens and described how these Serbian Spruces would be for us, and we were sold.

The next year, when Meyer became Morris’s director, I was thrilled to recognize that he was the person who had been so helpful to us. Indeed, a gracious and caring person, as well as such an expert at what he did.

With belated thanks,

Jenny French

Flourtown