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- Greenwich Post (CT)
November 8, 2007
Darien resident Helen F. Haskell, a former resident and teacher in Greenwich, accomplished horticulturist and former president of the Darien Garden Club, died Friday, Nov. 2, after a long battle with cancer. Mrs. Haskell, 77, was the wife of the late Jack Haskell of Tokeneke.
Born July 23, 1930, in New York City, she was the daughter of Dr. Claude E. Forkner and Marion DuBois Forkner, residents of New York and then Darien for over 20 years.
Her grandparents, Mrs. Haskell Sturges DuBois and Arthur Dubois, had built a house on Mead Point in Greenwich in 1905, where they, their children and grandchildren summered for more than 50 years.
The family lived in Beijing from 1932 to 1937 before moving to New York City. Mrs. Haskell attended Nightingale- Bamford and Northampton School for Girls, where she graduated in 1948. She graduated from Goucher College in 1952. Later that year she married Farrell Bushing Jr. at her parents' summer home on Butlers Island in Darien. That marriage ended in divorce.
She lived in Greenwich for more than 22 years and taught at the Brearley School in New York City and Greenwich Academy from 1953 to 1956. In 1980, she married Jack Haskell of Tokeneke, where she lived for over 27 years.
As well as being an avid tennis and bridge player, she was an active and accomplished horticulturist for over 40 years. She was a member of the Greenwich Daffodil Society, American Horticulture Society, New York Botanical Gardens, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, New Canaan Nature Center, Bartlett Arboretum Association, American Ivy Society, American Begonia Society and the American Geranium Society. She also served as president of the Connecticut Daffodil Society, co-chairman of the Greenwich Garden Club and co-chairman and chairman of the Darien Garden Club.
She planted succulents, ornamental shrubs, trees and flower gardens but was most noted for her expertise and accomplishments with growing daffodils, her family said. From 1963 to 2003 she planted more than 1,200 varieties of daffodils, entered and judged many competitions and was a frequent lecturer. She was the recipient of numerous local and national awards, including the Horticultural Committee Certificate of Merit, Carey E. Quinn Medal, Crawford Award for Horticulture, Preview of Spring Sweepstakes, GCA Horticulture Committee Award and Helen B. Rhodes Trophy.
Mrs. Haskell is survived by sister Lucy F. Greene of Greenwich; her sons: Bill Bushing and his wife Sarah of Darien, and Chris Bushing and his wife Soon'ae of Hingham, Mass.; and three grandchildren: Hillary and David Bushing of Darien and Ashley Bushing of Hingham.
She was predeceased by her husband, Jack Haskell and her brother Claude E. Forkner Jr.; both died in 1998.
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1930 - 2007 (77 years)
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