Miss Ordway

         

         I’ve been working on a sketch of camomile flowers and it has brought back memories for me that I though might be interesting to share. When I was about 17 years old I worked one summer for a woman named Katherine Ordway. She was the only daughter from a wealthy mining family. I remember her as an elderly, soft spoken, tiny woman. She lived in a small flat- roofed house, (except for the living room which was round with a pretty up down up down zig zagging ceiling), on Sagg Pond in Bridgehampton. Every day she walked with a parasol to shade her from the sun through paths in the grasses down by the water. My job was to serve her meals (serve from the left, take away from the right), light cleaning, water plants and turn down a corner of her bed and put her slippers next to it before I left at the end of the day. Do people still have these things done for them?! She also had a European cook named Erica. Erica’s previous job was for Ray Kroc, the man who created McDonalds. Erica’s chocolate cake recipe (one secret ingredient is a jigger of vodka), has been my family’s favorite for many years. 

          So back to the camomile. One day I was asked to go outside and pick camomile flowers that were growing along the side of a long driveway that went up to the house. I remember the flowers were sticky and smelly. I don’t think I had ever seen them before or since. The camomile was dried and used for tea for Miss Ordway. Though I knew she was quite wealthy, (there was talk of owning Picassos and other major pieces of art), I don’t think I quite realized at the time the impact this tiny woman would have on land conservation in this country. There was a story Erica told me of how she was once in a plane flying high over a state out west and Miss Ordway pointed below and said to Erica ”Do you see all that? I own all that land”. You see, Miss Ordway was a visionary. She started The Nature Conservency and was “one of the greatest private contributors to natural area conservation in American history”, second only to John D. Rockefeller. Only later did I realize how important this woman was!