Marjorie loves plants. I count 30 that she currently has in the house. That's the smallest number ever. She has always had plants, and I have never seen one wilt. If I was responsible for them, I would sometimes forget to water them, but not Marjorie. I frequently see her with a glass of water or a watering can going throughout the house caring for her babies.

It is the same with her outdoor flower gardens. If her husband hasn't set a sprinkler on her flowers or tomatoes when she thinks he should have, I see her carrying bucket after bucket and pitcher after pitcher of water to her thirsty friends.

It is the same with her family. She never allowed her children or her husband to wilt. She has always known what they needed, and provided the nourishment, before any wilt set in. Those needs included not only food and drink, but clothing, counsel, communication, and comfort.

None of us have ever wilted, nor have any of her plants.

One year Marjorie determined that the women of the ward needed to have a gift handed to them at church for Mother's Day that would be better than a candy bar or a single rose that would wilt and be thrown out in a few days. That year, many months before Mother's Day, she went to her prettiest African violets and broke off leaves. From the leaves she started over a hundred new plants. I think there were 120. They lined every window sill. She potted them, watered them, and repotted them. She lovingly cared for them until each was blooming.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Church was canceled. There would be no Mother's Day church service nor opportunity to hand out the traditional Mother's Day gift afterward.

So she set out to do it herself. She personally delivered many of the plants. Others were given to the bishopric and other leaders to be delivered.

One lady cried when she was given the plant.. "African violets were my mother's favorite flower," she said emotionally.

One husband was so enchanted with the gift that he took it from his wife, studied up on African violets, propagated more, bought a special light, purchased other colors, and proudly reported to Marjorie how his plants were doing every time he saw her.

It has been over four years since Marjorie distributed those Mother's Day African violets, but she still gets reports about her gift that is still alive and blooming. That gift provided a real pick-me-up for many people who were wilting because of the COVID pandemic.