The Winner of the 2021 Tom Wise Award
Kaye Fearneyhough

his year’s winner of the Tom Wise Award is Kaye Fearneyhough. She was presented the Tom Wise Medal on September 17, 2022, at the Albany Daylily Club meeting by Patty Franklin, Region 5 President. Region 5 sponsors the ‘Tom Wise Award’ which is provided to recognize those individuals who give of themselves unselfishly; perform service in support of both local and regional activities; and though never wavering in their dependability, they do whatever needs to be accomplished outside the limelight. Kaye has been a member of Region 5 AHS and her club for 22 years. She has served in every officer position within the club and currently serves as the club Vice President. Kaye always promotes her local club and looks for ways to grow its membership. She has also served her club by donating plants for sales and giving all her sales proceeds to the club. Kaye is indeed a diligent worker and has a passion for daylilies, and it shows as she is a hybridizer and grower and maintains two daylily gardens, one at her home in Georgia and one at her home in Florida. She has served as either Show Chair or Co-Show Chair for the last ten shows of the Albany Daylily Club. Kaye is a firm believer that if you take care of the tiny details, everything else will fall in place when planning a club event. As Show Chair in 2022 for example, this year presented a significant challenge as the show location, the Albany Mall, was in bankruptcy, and their bank required additional insurance for the event to take place. She worked diligently with the mall personnel and the American Daylily Society to come to a resolution (all while on her vacation) to endure that “the show must go on!”   She is a hands-on leader as she collaborates tirelessly with the members of the group to help get the jobs done for the show. Congratulations to Faye Fearneyhough.