The Garden Club of Newtown won several top awards during The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut 91st Annual Awards Meeting.

This year’s event, which took place October 28, was conducted online due to COVID-19.

Longtime Garden Club of Newtown member Deborah Osborne won The Lillian M. Rathbun Award, which is the highest award presented to an individual garden club member.

Established in 1999 by the Lyme Garden Club, the honor “may be presented annually to an individual involved in all phases of garden club work,” according to program notes.

Osborne, who has been a member since 1999, served as co-president for three years and has held a leadership role every year since she joined.

Osborne is an organizer, a worker, and a volunteer. She has spent countless hours in the club’s Victory Garden as well as supervising youth projects, such as a table at Newtown’s Earth Day Celebration.

She also brings her artistic talented each year to the club’s holiday Greens Sale and chaired the club’s recent standard flower show, “A Party in the Garden.”

At the state level, Osborne creates floral designs each year for the Wadsworth Atheneum Fine Arts and Flower Event. She also volunteers in all capacities at the Connecticut Flower Show and has won blue ribbons in horticulture, design, and educational exhibits.

Perhaps most important, Osborne is the epitome of cooperation; the award states, “She is a friend to all; never seeks accolades, never tires and never gives up. She possesses a quiet confidence, which makes her a most valued member.”

Additional Honors

Multiple honors were also awarded to the club and other members during last week’s event.

The Garden Club of Newtown received a commendation for its design in the category of “Following the Connecticut Antique Trail.” Club members created a vignette of a vintage clothing shop.

The design had alread been honored earlier this year, at The 39th Annual Connecticut Flower and Garden Show in Hartford.

In the area of horticulture, several members received individual citations: Eileen Holleran was honored for her informative articles in the club’s newsletter, Vicki Boccuzzi and Kerri Williams were praised for helping to update the Knot Garden at C.H. Booth Library, and Peggy Townsend and Louise Zierzow were honored for their leadership in the rows maintained by the club in the Victory Garden at Fairfield Hills.

The club’s newsletter received a first place award. Kerri Williams produces the monthly newsletter with the help of regular contributors Holleran, Holly Kocet, Mary Wilson, and Zierzow.

The club also received a first place award for its brochure, produced by Vicky Taloni, Boccuzzi, and Peg Townsend, in addition to a first place Yearbook Award.