Corinne Wadhams Willard

Corinne Wadhams Willard, 97, horticulturist, past president of Comstock, Ferre & Co., beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, died peacefully on Thursday, December 21, 2017, surrounded by family, at Chestelm, in Moodus, Conn. She is survived by her sister, Adelle Wright, of Hartford; her children and their spouses, Richard (Linda), of Cromwell; Douglas (Lori), of Liberty Lake, Washington; Anne (John Swingen, Jr.), of Carson City, Nevada; her longtime son-in-law Bill Selig; her former-son-in-law Rick Larson; her grandchildren Sarah Larson; Geoff Willard, Amanda DiDomenico, and Chris Mortensen; Jess Lockhart and Dan Willard; and Joe, Sam, and Jon Pontacoloni and Abby Swingen; four great-grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Richard Griswold Willard, their daughter, Jeanne Willard Selig, her sister Marcia Wadhams Bogardus, and Brad Wadhams. Corinne, the daughter of Dwight Benedict Wadhams and Ruth Adelaide Strong, grew up on her father’s dairy farm in Bloomfield, Connecticut. She was a nature girl from the start, observant and attentive, fascinated by animals and plants. She attended a one-room schoolhouse on Duncaster Road in Bloomfield, continuing on to Bloomfield High School and the University of Connecticut. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Horticulture from UConn in 1942. There, she also met her future husband, Dick Willard. They corresponded while he served in WWII and while she attended graduate school at Ohio State University, where she earned a Master’s of Science in Floriculture, specializing in orchid culture, in 1946. After grad school, she worked in a greenhouse operation in Rowayton, Conn., growing orchids for sale in New York City. After the war, Dick proposed to Corinne on the beach at Rocky Neck State Park. They married on August 9, 1947, at the First Congregational Church in Bloomfield. On their honeymoon, they drove across the country to California, camping out of the trunk of their car, sleeping in sleeping bags wherever they decided to pull over. It was the first of many cross-country trips that combined work with pleasure; they visited seed companies in Idaho, Colorado, California, Washington, and Oregon, and many between the Northwest and the West Coast. Corinne was a highly motivated individual. After she and Dick had their four children, she stayed home until Anne, her youngest child, was four years old, and then began working for Comstock, Ferre & Co., the historic seed company owned by the Willard family. She wrote and edited the company’s seed catalogue and became a locally well-known garden lecturer and floral designer. She hosted the weekly radio show “Garden Time” on WTIC-AM, along with Frank Atwood, for thirteen years. She was executive secretary of the Connecticut Horticultural Society for many years, a nationally accredited daffodil judge, a member of the American Society for Horticultural Science, and a member of the Garden Writers Association of America, which she served as president from 1977 to 1979. She and Dick were longtime judges for the All-America Selections seed trials, growing and testing new varieties of vegetables and flowers. She took garden tours to England, where she served as the horticultural consultant, advised the town of Wethersfield to begin a spring program to combat Dutch Elm disease, and served on the board of directors for the Village Improvement Association and the Solomon Welles House committee. She was president of Comstock, Ferre & Co. from 1980 to 1991, a role in which she flourished. She received the All-America Selections Medallion of Honor in 2000 and the University of Connecticut Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004. Corinne was proud of her accomplishments and passionate about horticulture; she was also an avid photographer, an adventurous traveller, a birdwatcher, a writer, a gentle spirit, a wonderful and funny storyteller, and a loving and devoted wife, mother, sister, cousin, aunt, and grandmother. She recorded more than 300 varieties of birds in her bird book and took great delight and joy in viewing Rocky Mountain wildflowers in bloom. Her grandchildren fondly remember making Easter eggs and Christmas cookies, playing Parcheesi, reading, and exploring the natural world with Grandma Willard. She travelled to Germany three times between 1980 and 1993 to visit her son Doug and his family, and she was in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. She also travelled to Holland to view the tulips in bloom. She relished exploring new places, and encouraged her children and grandchildren to pursue what they loved wherever it took them. She spent decades researching and conducting interviews for a planned book about the history of the American seed trade. As she was writing it, her husband Dick developed Alzheimer’s, and she cared for him; after his death, in 2002, she developed dementia herself. The Willard family gratefully thanks the staff of Chestelm Health & Rehabilitation Center for many years of warm and dedicated care. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 11 a.m. at the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, Connecticut, 250 Main Street. All are welcome to attend. Flowers are gratefully welcomed, as are donations to Chestelm, the Alzheimer’s Association, or the University of Connecticut College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) Dean’s Fund.