Marie Aull and Aullwood

              I recently was assigned the task of adding material to the Garden Club of Dayton collection. While going through the collection, I came across some articles on Marie Aull, the owner of Aullwood, now part of the Five Rivers Metro Parks. Marie and her husband John turned a portion of their 350 acre spread into a garden, known as the Aullwoood garden. The 350 acres has over 60species of trees and 400 varieties of plants.

               In 1977, Marie gave her land and home to the future Five Rivers Metro Parks. She also challenged the community to meet her $500,000 donation for an endowment to keep up the property within three years, or she would withdraw her gift. The community surpassed her initial donation and ensured the properties upkeep.

               Marie was a decades long member of the Garden Club of Dayton. She inspired and taught many members about horticulture and environmentalism. The Garden Club in turn decided to create a sculpture in Carillon Park to honor Marie for her service. After looking at many artists, they settled on Erik Blome from Barrington, Illinois. Included in the collection was some of his previous work, which seemed very true to life.

               It is interesting to see the Marie Aull statue in progress and the correspondence about changes they want to see reflected in the sculpture.  The ladies of the Garden Club wanted her in an action pose, holding a trowel and a blooming bulb, wearing slacks and a button shirt, and her hair in a bun.  Some of the correspondence suggests that her chin be less square and wide, and her hair looser. Also there was some discussion on the finish date, there seemed to be some miscommunication, but it was all resolved.

               On August 30, 2002, Marie Aull passed away at the age of 103. The Garden Club of Dayton dedicated the sculpture of Marie Aull on June 17, 2003. The picture to the right is of Marie's sculpture in progress.