Region 6 People - Mary Gage

Mary & Eddie Gage

Mary Carolyn (Browder) Gage
Region 6 American Hemerocallis Society Director
1993-95
June 29, 1934 - Living
by Mary Gage & Ray Houston

Mary Carolyn Browder was born June 29, 1934, in Houston, Texas, the daughter of Joseph Daniel Browder and Augusta Carolyn (Carstens) Browder. They lived in Spring Branch until 1948 when the family moved to Mary's father's inherited land near Lexington, Texas. This land had been in the Browder family since around 1860. Mary graduated from Lexington High School in 1951, and that fall went off to Texas State College for Women, Denton, Texas.

Eddie Wendell Gage, was born May 29, 1931, in Williamson County, Texas, the son of Tommie Gage and Artie (Beard) Gage. He graduated from Klein High School, Klein, Texas, in 1950, and joined the Marine Corps soon after. His family also moved to Lexington just a ways down the road from the Browder's and the families became friends, actually discovering that they had ancestors in common six and seven generations back, early settlers near the community called Beaukiss in central Texas. At Eddie's dad's urging, Mary wrote to Eddie and that is how it all began. They met when Eddie was home on leave the summer of 1951, and they were married in May of 1952, a few months before he shipped out to Korea. Their first child, Richard was born in May 1953, while Eddie was overseas. When Eddie returned home in January 1954, they bought a little house on the northern outskirts of Houston. That Christmas they welcomed their second baby, Theresa.

Mary admired the beds of yellow daylilies she saw growing in the neighborhoods and about 1956 found a nearby daylily grower, Mrs. Wickman, from whom she bought two clumps of lovely soft yellow daylilies for $1.50 each. As they grew and multiplied, she gave away the excess to family and friends. Then one day Eddie's friend from work gave him some daylilies of wine and pink colors. Mary never knew there was anything but yellow but now really fascinated; she knew she had to do more with this great plant.

By 1968, the family, now including Susan and Tim, had outgrown the little house, so they moved to Tomball on seven acres and built a new house. Mary began to pursue her dream of getting into the world of daylilies and proceeded to collect any and all daylilies that came her way. She had a lot to learn and pretty soon she did. On hearing about a schoolteacher, Jack Carpenter, who was giving away daylilies, she and Eddie got a whole truckload of his culls. The next spring Mary got her first lesson in judging daylilies. She picked a pretty little red daylily, scape and all, took it to Jack, and asked why on earth he would throw away such a beautiful flower. His reply was that it only had five buds; a scape so weak that it could not be expected to stand up, and the blooms would likely melt by noon. She could only reply, "Oh!" So the young novices found new homes for the "Carpenter Trash Number #1" and went about, under Jack's tutelage, growing better quality daylilies. The bug had bitten and hard.

By the early 1970's, Eddie and Mary were active in the Houston Hemerocallis Society (HHS), and before long joined the American Hemerocallis Society Bertie Ferris took them under her wing as they became Exhibition and Garden Judges. Mary served as HHS President in 1982-84, Houston Area Daylily Society (HADS) President in 1998-99, and Cypress Creek Daylily Club (CCDC) President in 2004-05. Eddie also took his turn as President of HHS and HADS and it seems that hardly a year has passed without both she and Eddie serving in one office or another. After holding various offices in Houston Hemerocallis, Houston Area Daylily, and Gulf Coast Daylily Societies she began working at the Regional level as 1988-89 Awards and Honors Chair and then 1990-91 Regional Publicity Director. When the two Houston clubs prepared to host the 1988 American Hemerocallis Society Convention, she and Eddie were deeply involved in getting a daylily garden into Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens.

Mary's focus then turned even more to flower shows and in 1990, she began instructing in the clinics and was American Hemerocallis Society Exhibitions Chair from 1992-95 and American Hemerocallis Society Director from Region 6 from 1993-95. In 1995, Mary and Eddie were instrumental in starting the Cypress Creek Daylily Club. The couple was jointly awarded the American Hemerocallis Society Region 6 Service Award in 1999.

From 2000-07 Mary served as Region 6 Exhibition Judges Liaison. After time out as Co-Chair of the 2008 National American Hemerocallis Society Convention and Tour Garden host she was again the Liaison in 2010. Finally, in September 2013, Mary was Co-Chair of the Region 6 Symposium, hosted by CCDC.

Mary and Eddie moved to their present location near Spring in 1977, and opened Spring Creek Daylily Garden in 1981. Mary did not accomplish what she originally planned in hybridizing, but did register four cultivars, Hemerocallis 'Orchid Harmony', H. 'Red Tiers', H. 'Watermelon Festival', and H. 'Color Me Happy'. Eddie registered a Jack Carpenter seedling, H. 'Beaukiss'.

The Gage family has added spouses, five grandchildren, and, happily in 2013, the first great-grandchild.

Mary and Eddie look back on more than 50 years of involvement with daylilies, with fond memories of good times, good friends, good food, and good fun.