May Reminds Us of Aunt Bettie Ann Greene

In March 1884, the Rev Stephen Morgan Collis conducted the marriage of Rev Stephen Morgan Greene to Elizabeth Ann Buchanan. Both had lost their first marriage partners. Aunt Betty Ann, as she was known affectionately, loved flowers, but on the limited budget of a preacher and with a house full of children, she could not afford store bought seeds. Instead, she went into the woods and brought wild ones closer to their house up on Cane Creek. But one day a traveling drummer (salesman) gave her a packet or 2 of what locals often called Sweet Rockets–others called them Dame Rockets—and there may be others. She planted a beautiful garden of them and then the May 1901 flood came along and washed them all away. From May thru August we can still see the flowers from Aunt Betty Ann’s garden all along Cane Creek and beyond. On her grave marker is the inscription: “She hath her dawn of flowers.”