Harry Eugene Marks
September 18, 1931 - June 4, 1990
by Rita Legé
(Reprinted from Region 6 Newsletter, Summer 1990)
Photo by Earline Tullier

On June 4, 1990, the Gulf Coast Daylily Society lost a dear friend and President of the Society for the last two years, Harry Eugene Marks. Tirelessly, he and his wife, Ann, together patiently organized our yearly successful Fall plant sale. The Fall sale was at first an experiment, and now, because of Gene, we have two main money making projects: a Spring sale and a Fall sale. Year by year both husband and wife organized our yearly meetings and yearbooks. Our organization can never repay Gene for his hard and tireless work, and words cannot express how much he really meant to everyone.

I can hardly write this without thinking how much his and Ann's visits in my yard meant to me. I always respected Gene's comments about my garden, and members of our daylily Society and I will miss him dearly as a true and sincere friend.

I was truly and deeply honored to be able to write this memorial for such a dear friend. I have a mental picture of him, two weeks before his death, bending over a little plant he had given me last Fall, Hemerocallis 'Bite Size' (Simpson, 1981). He had given me a challenge with a plant he thought would be hopeless to revive. Yes, Gene, 'Bite Size' was blooming in my yard profusely that day, and thank you again for motivating me with such challenges.

I will always remember you when I look at 'Bite Size' and many more plants in my garden.

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