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Monday, June 09, 2003

By Patricia Sheridan, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

It wasn't just orchids that were blooming all around the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and Bidwell Training Center Saturday night.

	Honorary chairs Prosser and Sandy Mellon. (Lake Fong, Post-Gazette)

Irony found fertile ground, too. Laughing, Helen Mathieson told guests that her late husband, Drew, "hated gardening, he despised it." That was just before the ribbon was cut and the curtain pulled back on the Drew Mathieson Center for Horticultural & Agricultural Technology, which will offer programs in plant science to prepare students for positions in related fields.

The dedication and celebration also acknowledged Mathieson's efforts on earth with a one-of-a-kind orchid, which was named for him and unveiled along with the new greenhouse at the "A Legacy of Inspiration Gala." The party was hosted by honorary chairs Prosser and Sandy Mellon.

Mathieson was executive vice president of the R.K. Mellon Foundation and sat on the board of Mellon Bank. He was the man who saw a young Bill Strickland's artistic potential and supported his dream of reinventing his North Side neighborhood. Strickland, the CEO of Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and the Bidwell Training Center, remembered the race riots that destroyed the site that is now occupied by the center. "Troops with bayonets once stood here. To go from that to orchids is a very good transition," he noted.

Keeping the wheels greased for even more dramatic changes was County Chief Executive Jim Roddey (with Elin), who announced a gift of $250,000 to explore another potential greenhouse project. Cutting the ribbon along with Strickland were board president Bill Lieberman (with Sissy), Mathieson's widow, his son Peter (with Carol) and daughter Peggy Conver (with David) and Sandy Mellon.

Streaming in to get a look at the 10-foot tomato plants and other vegetation were U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, Rose Strickland, Henry and Elsie Hillman, Mernie Berger, Diana and Peter Jannetta, Sally Wiggin, Pitt chancellor Mark Nordenberg with Nikki, Bill and Nancy Rackoff, May Wang, Bill Trueheart with Carol Word, Azita Owlia and Kaveh Korki, Bill Dietrich and Jane Treherne Thomas, Elaine and Edmond Effort, Connie and Bruce Morrison, the Rev. Harold Lewis, K. Leroy Irvis, Nancy and Dan Fales, Ellen and Jim Walton, Cliff and Diane Rowe, Bev and Steve Elliott, Vicki Halloran with Kevin, Tony and Linda Bucci with their daughter Cari, Dr. Loren and Ellen Roth with her mother Charlotte Himmel, Brooks and Jean Robinson, Paul and Mariellen Ramsdell, Ginger and Howard Schwartz, Ralph Papa, Drs. Jeff and Ellen Cohen, Doreen Boyce, Eric Knapp with Sue Fuhrer, Michael Jacobs with Candace Eazor, Jan and Guilaine Hedquist, Kathy Buechel, Glen and Diane Meakem, Sheila O'Brien, Cindi Roth, Hillary Rose, Burr Wishart, Charles with Susie Franklin, who organized the affair, and Norman Fang of Norman's Orchids in California, who donated some of his plants for the party.

It didn't take a green thumb to enjoy the fabulous buffet catered by Bidwell and dancing to the Nick Dialoiso Orchestra under the tent adjacent to the center.