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- Cordy Drollinger: a life and a garden always full of blooms in the making
(Ref photo of Codry attached to this article)
Posted: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 6:00 am
By Dooley Berry
At 80 years old, Gulf Shores resident Cordy Drollinger is a grand testament to dwelling on the positive side ? in both her lushly serene garden and throughout her interesting, multi-faceted life.
Cordy, born in 1932 in a small, rustic village near Heidelberg, Germany, has buried two husbands while continuing to live her life with joy and a youthful curiosity.
As a young girl growing up in the German countryside, gardening was a way of life.
"My parents and grandparents had a farm complete with a barn and fields,? she says. ?We had a cow, a pig, a goat and chickens along with the vegetable garden. All of that kept us from starving once the war started. We could also trade food, which was quite scarce, for shoes and clothes and other necessities. We were quite blessed when there was nothing to be had.?
At the tender age of nineteen, Cordy made the decision to come to America by way of Milwaukee to join an aunt and uncle already there.
She took a job, began night classes at Marquette University and accepted the marriage proposal of a German suitor who followed her across the ocean.
Her new husband suffered from ill health, and Cordy nursed him while pursuing her other obligations until his sudden death. Not long thereafter, she befriended a gregarious coworker and, after a while, both realized they were deeply in love and married.
"My second husband was the love of my life," Cordy shares wistfully. "It was at our apartment in a suburb of Milwaukee that I started my own gardening. I did everything but mow the grass.?
As fortune would have it, her husband Dick's company moved the new couple to South Africa, near Johannesburg, where they enjoyed their new lifestyle tremendously.
"We had a gorgeous large home, complete with swimming pool, tennis court, five acres of land and three garden boys to help me develop my garden ideas into a lovely reality," Cordy says.
Cordy's marvelous South African home afforded her many opportunities to be creative and adventurous with her gardening ideas.
In 1992, Dick and Cordy retired from one paradise to another when they moved to their new Craft Farms home in Gulf Shores.
"The yard was rather plain and simple," Cordy says, "and I immediately began laying out new flower beds, adding colorful shrubs and flowers. My husband reminded me that I had no garden boys to help me here ? I was on my own. I worked hard and enjoyed every minute of it.?
Cordy was told palms would not do well here, but she had to have them, so she imported some.
?And they have flourished," she shares with a smile. "I had agaves, also known as century plants, in South Africa and I wanted to include them here in our Alabama home. I got the mother agave in the mid-90s and, from her, countless babies which I have spread throughout my yard.?
It is one of those baby blue agaves that is now shooting up its 15-foot tall stem on which several blossoms promise the long-awaited blooming.
Along with her many blue agaves, Cordy enjoys growing the colorful impatiens, gardenias, camellias, azaleas, and hibiscus.
"I love living here because you can have some color in the garden year round," says Cordy. "My garden is my little paradise. Although I have a back injury now and walk with a cane, how blessed I am to know beauty any time of day, evening, or year in my garden. There, with the sun dancing all around me, any sad thoughts or bad things go away. There is always beauty ? you just have to look for it."
This extraordinarily charming lady-widowed for 10 years now from her beloved Dick is an example of gracious living for us all.
"It all works together, God is with you and spiritual growth gets better as you grow older,? she shares. ?God has guided my life from Germany to America to South Africa and back to America. He gave my perfect gentleman of a husband and myself 22 wonderful years of life together, and I am most grateful."
Her gardens have been a significant part of Cordy's life for many decades in various locations around the world. In her garden, no matter its location, she has witnessed her greatest joys and her deepest sorrows. The garden and the gardener both age and change together.
She manages her hanging pots and flowerbeds with the aid of her golf cart, which helps her meander along the well-worn paths and tend to necessary chores. Since she was widowed, she reassessed her yard with an eye toward lowering maintenance and has added lots of ground cover and curvy paths around her property.
Inspirational garden writer Elizabeth Sheldon, who died at 95 and continued daily work in her garden from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., when her energy began to flag, once shared, "As we trudge toward our earthly end, I know that out of all the people in the world ? no, none ? has had more fun that I have." These precious words could surely describe the life of Cordy Drollinger as well.
http://www.gulfcoastnewstoday.com/people/features/article_16de9e10-d764-11e2-ae89-0019bb2963f4.html
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1932 - 2020 (87 years)
