A Blooming Memorial to a Father Grows Here and Across the Nation: Four-o‘clocks were his father‘s favorite flowers. By sending seeds, a Louisiana man created a tribute that has rooted in every state. Rhonda Goodman. The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 27, 1994. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Original Printed Version of This Article

There are certainly more unusual ways to honor a parent’s memory than planting flowers. But planting them all over the country, with the assistance of total strangers in each state, is hardly a garden-variety tribute.

After his father’s death in April, Kevin P. Donahoe, 39, of Metairie, LA., used a mail-order approach of sorts to have his father’s favorite flowers, four-o’clocks, be cultivated nationwide. He sent seeds to two postmasters in each state, and to each state’s governor. “I did this so a part of my father’s spirit would be everywhere,” Donahoe said last week. “The postal employees I have dealt with here on the local level are genuine, authentic people, so I figured the same thing would apply to all postal employees. I don’t have friends in all 50 states, so how else was I going to distribute the seeds?”

Seeds to the U.S. Postal Service’s Philadelphia headquarters were dispatched to Jenkintown Postmaster Henry T. Gibson 3d, who has earned a reputation for doing work in the community. Gibson planted the four-o’clocks. “I didn’t think much of it, since we already have a butterfly garden,” Gibson said, standing next to the plants outside his post office. “But when I read about the project in Focus, which is a national magazine for postal employees, that all of the 50 states did it, too, then I felt good that we helped in some way.”

Jenkintown’s four-o’clocks have taken root in the upper right-hand corner of the butterfly garden, off West Avenue. The four-o’clock is a perennial with a trumpet-shaped flower, and is native to American soil. It blooms primarily in Southern states; grows in yellow red, and white varieties; and opens only in the late afternoon, hence the name.

Donahoe said his father, James, who died after a lengthy battle with cancer, had cultivated four-o’clocks in his garden for more than 40 years, especially spending time there after his retirement from his job at the Port of New Orleans in 1990.

When his father’s condition worsened, Donahoe said he would take him outside in his wheelchair every day around the time he expected the flowers to bloom. Their last time in the garden was the day before James Donahoe’s death. The bushes were still bare. “He never saw the flowers bloom this year,” Kevin Donahoe said.

A week after the funeral, a single flower appeared on a bush, he said. And that’s when he struck upon the idea of a national memorial to his father. On July 17, what would have been his father’s 66th birthday- Donahoe presented his mother, Dorothy, with an album containing letters and pictures from all the post offices and government officials who had planted the seeds.

Dorothy Donahoe said she was not surprised that her second of three children would come up with such an idea. “He was always the one who did the unexpected,” she said.

One of the letters Kevin received was from Ellen Casey, wife of the Pennsylvania Governor. “I can related to his feelings, Casey said last week. “I had many aunt and uncles die from cancer, and a niece who died of breast cancer in 1987. It’s a terrible disease that leaves hurtful memories. So we planted the seeds outside the governor’s residence. And they’re to bloom next spring.”

Nancy Schmitt, communications specialist for the U.S. Postal Service in Anchorage, Alaska said she was astonished that Donahoe “went through so much trouble.” “I felt that if anyone had read that letter, then they had to do it,” Schmitt said. “I believe that when someone dies, everyone should do something that gives something else life.”

Eva Sanchez, customer relations coordinator for the Postal Service in San Diego , said she could not imagine that anyone would turn down Donahoe’s request. “I think it’s very lovely , what he’s done for his mother,” Sanchez said.