AW Kelleys Gardens Inc.

Place of birth: Freetrade, Leake County, Mississippi 1922.

Education:
• Carthage High School (Valedictorian 1939)
• East Central Junior College
• Mississippi Southern (now Univ. of So. Mississippi)

Business Experience:
• Secretary to Pres. of ECJC, Dr. L. O. Todd - 2 years
• Ylc, WAVES, U. S. Navy, 2 years 8 months, as secretary to Cdr. Heslip, Head of Training Section for all Naval Intelligence officers assigned to duty aboard U. S. ships and as Naval attachés abroad.
• Teacher, Edinburg High School, Edinburg, Mississippi
• Deputy Chancery Clerk-Leake County, Carthage, Mississippi
• Farming with husband on their own farm in Mississippi
• Substitute teacher in early 1960’s in Lee County
• Bookkeeper and Office Manager, Kelley’s Gardens and A. W. Kelley’s Gardens Inc. for thirty years more or less.
• Ettie claims her most rewarding position has been “raising a happy family”.

Ettie, along with her husband, William T. “Bill” Walsh, Jr., and two sons, Bill, III, age 7, and Bob, age 2, moved to Fort Myers, Florida, in January, 1960. Bill was employed by the Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and had been transferred to Fort Myers in December, 1959, to be the District Plant Inspector for Lee, Charlotte and Collier Counties. He had previously been in Tampa and Winter Haven on the Mediterranean Fruit Fly Program and the Imported Fire Ant Program. Before his retirement in 1984 he was the Supervisor for the Division of Plant Industry from Fort Myers across to West Palm Beach.

As happy chance would have it, they moved into a house just across the Winkler Canal (then known as a ditch) from our nursery, Kelley’s Gardens, Inc. Our families became fast friends, both adults and children. Bill and A.W. Kelley spent many enjoyable hours in the woods working their English birddogs in search of the illusive quail. Ettie and Dixie made many trips to the North Carolina and Georgia mountains in search of bargains at the outlets which were tucked away right in the main factories.

As a substitute teacher at Orangewood Elementary School, Ettie had some free days and started answering the telephone for Kelley’s and doing some office work. In the latter part of the 1960’s she started working full time when the new office building was completed. As Kelley’s Gardens grew from just a handful of employees to around fifty, so did the responsibilities increase for Ettie. She was sort of a “jack-of-all-trades,” ranging from secretary, outside sales girl, bookkeeper, personnel manager, financial advisor, and up to Office Manager.

Both of the Walsh boys started working part time for Kelley’s when they were in elementary school. They graduated from weeding, can-punching and potting to orchestrating small landscaping jobs. After attending college they both became regulars in the landscape department, running crews and designing jobs.

Bill, III, has been very successful with his career in the Keys at Cheeca Lodge, Islamorada, for almost thirty years. He was first in charge of the grounds, the golf course and landscaping and soon moved up to his current position as Property Manager. He has had the fortune of hobnobbing and fishing occasionally with some quite famous people that retreat to the Keys.

The younger brother Bob owns a flourishing, specialty business called R.S. Walsh Landscaping. This well established company is renowned in South Florida for their uniquely complex, hefty and custom projects. Both of these men (no longer boys) would tell you that their achievements are largely due to the early mentoring of their father and “Mr. Arthur” (A.W. Kelley).

Kelley’s Gardens was dissolved in 1983 and the main nursery property was sold. However, Ettie continued on, part time at the alternate Hendry Creek location as a new-fangled company was born, A.W.Kelley’s Gardens. She was instrumental in getting the new wholesale plant nursery on its feet. Ettie fully retired in the late ‘90’s.

Remaining staff at Kelley’s Gardens, Inc. and the Kelley family will forever be indebted to Ettie for her many, many years of dedicated service. Our prosperity and integrity over the years has been greatly enhanced due to her ingenuity, hard work, perseverance and experience. We keep in close touch with Ettie and value her friendship and far-reaching knowledge of business, horticulture and public relations.