ADS REGION 15 service Award​

                    NANCY WOMACK - 2022
A charter member of the Foothills Daylily Society, Nancy Womack has been actively involved with the American Daylily Society for over 15 years. Her commitment to service in support of The American Daylily Society and all it represents is widely known at the local, regional, and national level. In addition, her active involvement in and considerable contributions in time and talent to her community are also noteworthy. 
At the local level, Nancy has served in various capacities including four years as Club President. In this leadership role, she grew the club and expanded members’ interest in all areas of the Society. Using daylilies created by Region 15 hybridizers, she oversaw the organization of a daylily display garden at the Cooperative Extension Center/Rutherford Senior Center to showcase and demonstrate the daylily’s use in landscaping. To publicize daylilies within the local area, she co-chaired the Club’s first daylily show and at our most recent show, was awarded the Best-in-Show honor. She constantly reaches out to individuals who express an interest in daylilies by inviting them to visit her garden, and she follows up with a note or phone call encouraging them to join our club.
Under Nancy’s superb leadership, our club has successfully hosted two Region 15 meetings – the 2012 Fall Meeting and the 2021 Summer Meeting, which was originally planned for 2020 but postponed due to COVID. Because of uncertainties caused by the pandemic, she threw out the “guidebook” and organized a first of a kind, abbreviated one-day summer meeting – with no indoor meetings, individual transportation to the gardens rather than buses, careful guidelines regarding social distancing at the host gardens, and lunch provided in an outdoor pavilion. The general consensus of the attendees was that the meeting was very successful and provided a valid example of new approaches to our regional meetings. In addition, Nancy’s garden was one of the display gardens on tour, despite her having a broken right arm.   
Successful organizations need leaders who make sure things get done, and Nancy has been a leader throughout her involvement with the ADS. She volunteers for committees both at the local and regional level, inspires members to get involved, and steps in only if she sees a need to keeps things running smoothly – all without bringing notice to herself. In addition to her other involvement at the regional level, Nancy supports the editor of our award-winning newsletter, the Hemalina, by proof-reading each edition prior to publication. She also provides substantive feedback and coaching on organizational matters and activities at the local, regional, and national levels. 
2016 through 2019, Nancy served as Regional President for Region 15. In this role she enhanced communications on ADS activities at all levels. She promoted the use of the regional website as one of our primary communication tools and added an open forum, “Daylily Fan Feedback,” in the regional newsletter to provide a platform for member communication.  She continued to strengthen the role of the Region’s Leadership Team, encouraging team members to regularly provide updates on their specific roles both in the Hemalina and on the Region’s website. She also encouraged clubs to focus on service to their communities. As she noted in one of her messages to the regional membership, “greater presence in the community leads to greater interest, and perhaps increased membership, in our clubs and AHS.” Currently, she is the Regional Awards Chair, an ADS Exhibition Show Judge, a Garden Judge and Instructor.   
Nancy is a regular attendee at national ADS conventions and has served in major capacities in several recent ones. In 2014, she served as Conference Registrar, in 2020, she helped with hospitality, and for the 2022 national convention, she is coordinating the Conference Boutiques.   
This only briefly highlights Nancy’s work with ADS activities.  She has also been very active in her community. Nancy was employed at Isothermal Community College for 30 years, serving as the Dean of the Arts and Sciences Division for part of that time. In April 1983, during her tenure as a Humanities instructor at Isothermal, she was the first recipient of the annual Robert Wendell Eaves Distinguished Teaching Award, one of the most prestigious awards at the college. In 2007, she became a dedicated and highly engaged member of the Isothermal Foundation Board. She has served as Chair of the Board since 2013. 
Nancy is also an accomplished musician, plays viola in the symphony, and serves as President of the Rutherford County Symphony. Until recently, she was an active member of Master Gardeners, chairing the Spring Garden school for two years. Her community service work with the Master Gardeners program was recognized statewide as the recipient of the 2016 Search for Excellence Award. She has also worked in the county’s “Backpack Program” filling students’ backpacks with non-perishable food to ensure that these children would not go hungry on weekends.
In her spare time, Nancy writes poetry. Her poems have appeared in The Mentor, a college journal which she started at Isothermal to provide faculty and staff a venue to publish their essays, poems, and photography. Many of her poems have been about daylilies, or about the many interesting hybridizers she has gotten to know. “Ditch Lilies” appeared in the summer 2010 Hemalina and “Daylilies” in the 2013 issue. She also published a beautiful book of her poetry about daylilies and photographs by various members of Region 15 entitled Mornings in June. Some of her poems acknowledge those who have had a huge influence on her: “Patterns: A Poem for Linda Sue,” “The Mentor: A Poem for Van,” “The Quiet Man: A Poem for Vic.” 
Nancy has inspired us all.  She has used her many skills – diplomacy, communication, organization, and a tireless work ethic – in every task she has undertaken. She leads by example. For all her contributions –to the Foothills Daylily Club, Region 15, AHS, and to her community – Nancy Womack is most deserving of the 2021 ADS Regional Service Award for Region 15. 
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In addition to the Carolina Service Award which Region 15 grants to one of its own members, there is a Regional Service Award voted on and presented by the American Daylily Society for service to one’s own region. Nominations for this award must be sent to the ADS Awards and Honors Chair by September 1st of each year for consideration at the Fall Leadership meeting.  The winner is announced at the following summer National Convention. (The current Region 15 ADS Director is ineligible for this award.)

OFFICAL RULES & GUIDELINES

• Any Region 15 member(s) may nominate an individual or couple who work together that he/she deems worthy of this Service Award. 
• The nomination letter should include detailed reasons for the nomination—specific examples of why this nominee is worthy of the award.
• An ADS member will only be eligible to win a Regional Service Award once.  
• Currently serving board members are not eligible.  However, the serving Regional President is now eligible to be nominated for this award.
• The nomination must be sent to the ADS Awards and Honors Chairman by September 1st by mail (currently Rhonda Veroeven, Awards Chairperson, 6674 Windsor Ridge Lane, Windsor, WI 53598) or email (awards@daylilies.org).
• Contact information for the person making the nomination is required.
• The Award will be presented at the following summer National Convention.

PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS 

John Martin  (2021)
​Kathy Tinius  (2020)
​Charles and Heidi Douglas  (2019)
Mitchell Hagler  (2018) 
Ed Zahler  (2017)
Anne Winningham  (2015)
Ann Cobb (2014)
Raymond & Wanda Quinn (2012)
Paul Owen (2011)
Curtis & Linda Sue Barnes (2010)
No One (2009)
Becky Hinshaw (2008)
Rebecca Board (2007)
Kay Arnold (2006)
Peggy & Jim Jeffcoat (2004)
Bill Watson (1997)
Likie A. Register (1994)
Cheryl Postlewait (1991)
Ken Cobb (1990)
Harold Kirk (1987)
Harvey Horne (1985)
Charlotte Holman (1982)
Jim Cooper (1981)
Kate Carpenter (1978)
Van Sellers (1976)
John M. Allgood (1975)
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