THE FOLLOWING IS JENNIFER BAILEY’S “BAILEY BUZZ” COLUMN FROM THE NEWS-GAZETTE
ABOVE: JERRY FURNISH (Jennifer Bailey/The News-Gazette)
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The Bailey Buzz this week has a flower aficionado at Tilton’s Autumn Fields senior living facility, a Mosaic City Church event and a back-to-school item drive.
We have a resident named Jerry Furnish who lives at Autumn Fields in Tilton. He plants, cares for and takes great pride in all of the flowers and vegetables here at our campus. He is a very interesting guy. I think it would make for a great story idea and beautiful photos. He and his wife, Marilyn, are both residents here.
I received this invite from Amy Thompson, regional marketing director with Autumn Fields Adult Community, and Jerry ended up being a delight to talk to.
Jerry, 84, was born in Paris, Ill., and lived in Ridge Farm since age 11. He was a farmer until age 56, and “it just got too expensive, couldn’t afford it,” he said.
He got out of that and then worked at the local Lebanon Seaboard plant and bagged fertilizer. He said not a lot of people know that the Ross Lane location was unique in making Preen “Preen and Green” products for controlling weeds in flower beds and gardens.
Jerry has now been a resident at Autumn Fields for a year and a half and said he needed something to do. “I can’t just sit down,” he said. That’s how he got more involved in tending to flowers and gardening.
He said being on the farm, he knows how to do things.
FOR MORE FROM JENNIFER BAILEY’S “BAILEY BUZZ” COLUMN PLEASE GO TO https://www.news-gazette.com/bailey_buzz/the-bailey-buzz-july-16-2026/article_10c7132f-7fc6-490d-8cd6-189ddb6a36c2.html
