It's the birthday of my father-in-law, Elizabeth's dad, Edward Lawton Daugherty, Senior. He's a landscape architect.
His grandchildren call him Abba (pronounced: Ah-bah.) Let's just say he's in his eighth decade... still going strong... and still going to work outside, to visit job sites in outlying areas, to meet contractors, and to provide a bedrock of laughter and support. Moreover, if you've read about the work of the Buckhead Heritage Society on behalf of Mt. Olive Cemetery, you find he's still sharing regional history.
Just October 10, the Atlanta History Center closed the exhibition of its Cherokee Garden Library, "Edward L. Daugherty, A Southern Landscape Architect: Exploring New Forms." Ed spoke a number of times, to a number of audiences. When I took my daughter, we chased each other in circles around the gallery, and when we left, we met a cousin and friend coming in. When I dropped in October by for a viewing at closing time, staring at one of his designs, I collided with an old UGA pal of mine, landscape architect Will Griffin.
There remains a wonderful oral history of Ed, thanks to the efforts of Atlanta landscape architect Spencer Tunnell and the nonprofit Cultural Landscape Foundation; you can find it posted at the CLF website, here:
http://tclf.org/pioneers/oral_history.htm
or, here:
http://tclf.org/pioneers/profiles/daugherty/videos/index.html
Happy Birthday, Abba! We love you, sir.
