Plant Patron

Judith Schaff McNulty ’60, ’78G, had a house she says was “overrun with plants.” Nazareth College had Peckham Hall, a brand new science building complete with greenhouses. And by last December, four months after Peckham Hall opened, the plants and the building came together in a match made in heaven. More than 50 plants, many of them quite large and all of them passed along with love, now reside in the science center.

“I’m excited to think they’re somewhere people are happy to have them,” says McNulty, shown here with a Norfolk pine, a peace lily, and an anthurium. The pine, now surpassing six feet, was a mere six inches tall when McNulty’s husband presented it to her as a gift more than 35 years ago.

The donated plants have been scattered throughout the building and will be cared for by Beverly Brown, Ph.D., associate professor in biology, and a cadre of willing staff and faculty volunteers, including Sharon Bidwell-Cerone, Ph.D., R.N., CS-PNP, associate professor of nursing, who has offered lessons in orchid care for the more fragile greenhouse tenants.

Judith McNulty