Committees
Descriptions, Chairs, and Members
Click on a committee button, or scroll down to read about them all.
Avis Campbell Gardens
Ana Zalles Moore, Chair; Wendy Stahl, Vice Chair; Barbara Meyer, Rose Chair
Members 2025-2026: Olga Bequillard, Susan Dumont, Donna Karanja, Anne Kerr, Clare Kuch, Kem Louie, Maria Matesanz, Barbara Meyer, Debbie Moran, Tova Narrett, Sarah Olson, Celia Radek, Edith Ries, Maggie Rothman, Valerie Slamka, Grete Scheidl, Maureen Sprong, Michelle Tomasik, Michele Trevenen, Jane Wallace, Karen Whitehaus, Susan Yu, Lauren Zodel, and Provisionals.
The Avis Campbell Gardens and Grounds Committee maintains the grounds and the display gardens located behind 60 S Fullerton Ave. The gardens are open to the public. Designed by landscape architect and Garden Club member Avis Campbell and installed in 1952, the gardens are inspired by the Wheel of Life and feature a pedestal fountain surrounded by roses and beds of flowering perennials and annuals. The grounds include a memorial to Essex County residents who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Volunteers are welcome to join committee members who garden every Tuesday morning from April through mid-November.
Awards
Tova Narrett, Chair
Members 2025-2026:
This group of members is responsible for managing which members receive Garden Club awards. Click here for the full list of awards and recipients since 1980.​ Member of this committee are appointed.
Botanical Arts
Florence Leyssène, Chair; Debbie Moran, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Kathy Bachmann, Barbara Baletti, Karen DeLuca, Karen Fricke, Debbie Moran, Tova Narrett, Floss O’Sullivan, Susan van Inwegen.
Recently joining the line-up of Club activities, Botanical Arts (BA) offers additional opportunity for creative expression and presentation of other types of horticulture, design and exhibits. Included under the BA umbrella are Botanical Horticulture, Botanical Design, Artistic Crafts, and Photography.
Church Street Gardens (formerly Triangle Gardens)
Kathy Bachmann, Chair; Maggie Rothman, Vice Chair
Members 2024-2025: Charlene Connolly, Nancy Foster, Betty Murphy, Deborah Hirsch, Anna Lee, Sara Olson, Janet Oscar, Maggie Rothman, Valerie Slamka, Kathy Sorkin, Wendy Stahl, Nancy Stroud, Pamela Torre, Jane Wallace, Sue Young.
​
Church Street Gardens include the raised planting beds along Church Street and the traffic circle at the corner of Valley Road, planted in the summer of 2025. Active and provisional Members plant in the spring and maintain through the summer and fall, turning downtown Montclair into an oasis that residents take for granted. The Business Improvement District partners with the club, supplying funds and maintenance assistance during the growing season.
Civic/Environment
Deborah Hirsch, Chair; Sarah Olson, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Kathy Bachmann, Karen Carter, Jacoba Coes, Marie Donnelly, Susan Dumont, Karen Kadus, Anna Lee, Maria Matesanz, Sydney Milliken, Sheila Oakes, Sarah Olson, Imke Oster, Susan Straten, Jane Wallace, Sue Young.
The mission of this Committee is to encourage environmentally responsible beautification of our town’s outdoor green spaces. This Committee’s goal is to act as a resource for individual and organizational stewardship for planning and plant selection and to provide physical help where appropriate. We will offer advice on ways to beautify town businesses and create floral displays when requested. We will search for existing gardens that exemplify sustainable practices and businesses whose plantings or containers show significant effort in the use of pollinator friendly and native plants. We will highlight these examples on social media and website platforms. We will interface with other committees of our club to learn, educate, and share ideas.
Communications/Publicity
Celia Radek, Chair; Sue Young, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Janice Benton, Karen DeLuca, Deborah Hirsch, Tova Narrett, Tracy Reilly, Amy South, Allyn Young.
Not only do we need to inform members of all our activities, but we need to reach out to new gardeners. This committee runs this website, blasts out social media, updates our history online and with an annual printable Yearbook, communicates with blog updates and emails, and links with the public and press through social media and event notifications. It also helps all committees with publicity and other communications requirements.
Finance
Bob Chapman, Chair; Vice Chair TBD
Members 2025-2026: Class of 2026—Nancy Stroud, Imke Oster; Ways & Means—Gretchen Prater (non-voting); Class of 2027—Lissa Barrett, Karen Kadus; President (ex officio)—Fran Ackerly.
As in any organization, this committee is responsible for collecting dues, creating and managing a budget, and ensuring we meet all legal and ethical standards concerning our finances. Members are appointed.
Flower Design
Barbara Baletti, Chair; Florence Leyssène, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Fran Ackerly, Barbara Baletti, Susan Brady, Carol Callahan, Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Karen Fricke, Florence Leysènne, Tova Narrett, Deborah Moran, Amy Poster, Michele Quinn, Cheryl Slutzky, Sarah Stransky,
Flower Design is an integral component of the Garden Club. Monthly competitions provide opportunities for new and experienced designers to showcase their designs, receive feedback from judges, and earn ribbons and design credits. By attending the many workshops offered each year by our expert designers, members can improve their design skills, learn about the different design types, staging, and mechanics.
Garden Boutique
Susan Benner, Chair
Members 2025-2026: Susan Brady, Ellen Colton, Marie Donnelly, Susan Dumont, Dorothy Meissner, Sara Olson, Brigitte Padberg, Nancy Stroud.
The Garden Boutique not only provides gardening and flower design tools, caps, aprons, and other eye-catching gifts to members, but it makes a profit and contributes to our annual budget. Our chair is always open to new ideas for items.
Garden Therapy
Olga Bequillard, Chair; Sheila Oakes, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Fran Ackerly, Susan Benner, Betsy Burgess, Susan Dumont, Anna Lee, Maria Matesanz, Betty Murphy, Sara Olson, Imke Oster, Denise Silverman, Cheryl Slutzky, Wendy Stahl, Michele Tomasik, Jane Wallace.
Garden Therapy is an opportunity to “give back” to the community with visits to nursing homes, senior centers, specialized schools and refuges. GC members work with institutions to design programs that will interest participants, ranging from hands on workshops such as aromatherapy, floral design, botanical arts and the planting of annuals, perennials and herbs in garden beds or windowsill planters.
Horticulture
Heidi Muschick, Chair; Susan Straten, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Jacoba Coes, Celia Radek, Denise Silverman.
Horticulture involves the cultivation of fruits, flowering plants, vegetables, and ornamental plants with opportunities for members to exhibit specimens from their gardens or potted plants from their homes.
Hospitality
Florence Sinofsky, Chair; Betty Murphy, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Betsy Burgess, Carol Callahan, Charlene Connolly, Karen Kadus, Dorothy Meissner, Betty Murphy, Amy Poster, Michele Quinn, Elizabeth Seebode-Zazzali, Pat Sullivan-Perry, Cheryl Slutzky.
One of our three goals is "Fellowship," and the Hospitality Committee ensures that it is never far from any Club event. Our members look forward to the tradition of delicious lunches, teas, and all kinds of comforting fare conjured — apparently — out of nowhere.
Nominating
Marie Donnelly, Chair
Members 2025-2026: Barbara Baletti, Susan Benner, Karen Fricke, Sarah Olson, Florence Sinofsky, Fran Wong; Membership (ex officio)—Cheryl Slutzky; President (ex officio)—Fran Ackerly.
​
The Nominating Committee prepares slates of candidates for Club officers and fills vacancies should they occur. Members of this committee are appointed.
Program
Cynthia Cohan-Aitken, Chair; Karen Fricke, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Barbara Baletti, Charlene Connolly, Sydney Milliken, Amy Poster, Sarah Stransky.
Program meetings are held monthly from September to April for members and guests. Speakers come with an extensive knowledge of gardening, flower design and horticulture as well as topics as varied as the history of Essex County parks, color theory, tree therapy, and the relationship of the fashion industry to gardening.
Ways & Means
Susan Benner, Chair; Olga Bequillard, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Marie Donnelly, Deborah Hirsch, Anna Lee, Janet Oscar, Amy Poster, Cheryl Slutzky, Amy South, Susan Straten, Nancy Stroud, Michele Trevenen, Marilyn Zaret,
This committee searches for ways to generate revenue to support the various club projects.
Workshops
Karen Fricke, Chair; Tova Narrett, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Barbara Baletti, Susan Brady, Florence Leysenne, Dorothy Meissner, Barbara Meyer.
Workshops are organized throughout the year to help members — provisionals in particular — learn about flower design, cultivating and exhibiting horticulture specimens, as well as other topics related to gardening.
Youth
Jacoba Coes, Chair; Susan Yu, Vice Chair
Members 2025-2026: Nancy Foster, Sarah Olson, Susan Straten, Allyn Young.
This committee is unique — offering the opportunity to spark the same enthusiasm that brought us to join the Garden Club in a new generation. Through activities that introduce young people to the basic principles of gardening, design, ecology, and conservation we hope to encourage participants to develop a life-long love of gardens, a direct appreciation of horticulture's therapeutic effects and an understanding of the importance of plants to our planet.