By Shary Lyssy Marshall, Times Correspondent
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Charles Neugebauer, 81, and Fantasy African Violet Club member Patricia Diebold begin the plant repotting in Brooksville.
BROOKSVILLE — The surgery began at approximately 1:25 p.m.
An audience watched anxiously. One lady wrung her hands. During particularly scary parts, many stopped chewing their refreshments, which consisted of typical autumn fare: pumpkin pie, homemade apple cake laced with cinnamon, and Oreos with orange stuffing.
I've never seen anything like it, they said. I'd be so scared to do that. Are you nervous?
Next of kin Charles "Chuck" Neugebauer, 81, of Spring Hill stood off to the side and tried to smile.
Surgeon Thad Scaggs had done transplants hundreds of times, but even he was nervous in the moment.
After all, these were no ordinary African violets.
They had belonged to Chuck's wife, Pat, who passed away in January. Before Pat cared for them, they belonged to her mother, Margaret Velasco, who died in 1977.
Estimated age for these elderly Saintpaulia ionanthas: 55.
Chuck's daughters, now in their 50s, remember the violets growing at Grandma Velasco's house in Chicago. The flowers sat on glass shelves in the windows of her bright, apple-themed kitchen.
Scaggs, who also serves as president of the local Fantasy African Violet Club, carefully lifted a plant out of its pot. Soil fell onto the blue tapestry he'd set out for the procedure. With a swift motion, he snapped off several leaves growing around the base, studied the plant, and took off a few more.
• • •
For the previous eight months, Chuck had watered the houseplants once a week — usually on Sundays — with water from the tap.
The days moved slowly without his wife. She wasn't supposed to go first. He'd even set up their will to make it easy for her after he died.
He missed her terribly.
The Depression-era values of their childhood served their 57-year marriage well. After they retired in 1991, they spent nearly two decades enjoying what they'd dreamed of: Florida sunshine, travel, dancing, community theater and quiet days together.
For months he replayed Pat's last two weeks in the hospital over and over like a movie reel that would not stop. Hundreds, thousands of times, he'd gone over every detail. How could she be gone? How could she go into the hospital with one issue and die from something completely unrelated?
But lately he had begun to let those thoughts go. After eight months, he could finally sleep through the night again.
He tried to keep busy. He accepted a role in Arsenic and Old Lace at the Stage West Community Playhouse. He visited his children and grandchildren up north. He took line-dancing classes and learned the electric slide.
He was slowly paring down his things, donating items he no longer needed.
Then he got to the violets. They were growing out of their pots and would need transplanting soon.
"The fact that they're still blooming tells me someone special is watching over them," his daughter e-mailed when he inquired about whether he should donate them.
After a few calls, someone put him in touch with the local violet club. They would help him with the transplant and teach him about caring for the plants.
• • •
When Scaggs was done Saturday afternoon, the plants were half their original size. The pile of leaves he had removed could be used to grow more plants.
Using a scalpel from his black toolbox, Scaggs expertly sliced into several of the leaves and tucked them around the edge of the pot. Eventually, these babies would root, and if Chuck's children or grandchildren wanted one, they could begin their own plants as well.
The audience applauded.
A grateful Chuck stood up and addressed the club:
"One of the last things (Pat) said before she passed in January was, 'Gee, Chuck. These plants have been with us a long time.' Who knows, maybe they'll survive another 50 years."
As Chuck packed up his things, several ladies in the Fantasy African Violet club invited him to please come back. He just might do that, he said.
Shary Lyssy Marshall can be reached at slmarshall.sptimes@gmail.com.