Trudy Hirsch Fennell, 83, Matriarch led South Florida orchid dynasty
Hoodoo
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER
Posted on Friday, 06.05.0
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/obituaries/story/1082371.html
Trudy Hirsch Fennell married into the South Florida orchid industry's
founding family and became the public face of its popular tourist
attraction, Orchid Jungle.
A Miami native born five months before the killer hurricane of 1926, she
died Tuesday at 83. She had a heart attack and contracted pneumonia
following recent minor surgery at Jackson South Community Hospital.
The matriarch of a four-generation orchid dynasty, Fennell ran the Patio
Gift Shop at Orchid Jungle, a 19-acre site at 26715 SW 157th Ave. that
drew both sightseers and orchid collectors.
She was the widow of Thomas Fennell Jr., whose grandfather, Lee Arthur
Fennell, brought his orchid plants to South Florida from Kentucky in 1922.
All but destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, the Jungle briefly reopened
before becoming a nature preserve.
In The Orchid Thief, author Susan Orlean writes about the Fennells, who
specialized -- and prospered -- in cattleyas: the flouncy corsage
orchids that proliferated at proms and weddings in the 1950s and '60.
FATHER'S LEGACY
Trudy Hirsch's father, Theodore, left Germany for Jacksonville in 1902,
later bringing a bride from the Old Country and moving to Miami. He
operated a furniture importing and manufacturing business near what's
now the Omni.
Trudy grew up in the Shenandoah neighborhood, graduated from Miami High
School and spent a year at the University of Georgia.
Daughter Trudy Lynn Guest of Burnsville, N.C., said that her mother was
active in high school alumni affairs, and helped plan her class's 60th
and 65th reunions.
In 1950, Trudy Hirsch was managing the downtown Burdines store's first
floor, where Thomas Fennell Jr. manned an orchid kiosk. Six weeks later,
they married at Plymouth Congregational Church.
Trudy Guest was born in 1951, followed by twins Thomas III and Anita in
1953, two months prematurely.
RAN GIFT SHOP
While the Fennell men cultivated plants, Trudy ran the Patio Gift Shop,
selling upscale souvenirs and jewelry as well as collector plates and
porcelain figurings.
She taught her children that ''if someone came up to the front gate, you
put your best foot forward,'' daughter Trudy said. ''If they bought a
nickel postcard or nothing at all, it didn't matter. You were the face
of Miami'' that tourists would remember.
In a written tribute, Texas orchid grower Jeff Bradley noted that Trudy
helped set up the ''legendary displays at the Miami [orchid] shows,''
and attended World Orchid Conferences.
'But Trudy was best-known as the `orchid greeter.' Trudy met every
visitor who came to the Orchid Jungle,'' where she ``led tours [and]
answered untold numbers of questions about orchids.''
AFTER THE STORM
All that changed on Aug. 24, 1992, when Hurricane Andrew struck the
Homestead areas. It was a Monday. The previous Friday, Trudy and Thomas
Jr. had sold Orchid Jungle to their son, who'd been general manager.
''There was not one green leaf above the ground for four weeks,'' he
recalled. He now runs the orchid division of ForemostCo, a Miami-based
dealer in ''starter'' plants for commercial nurseries.
Her mother was ''hysterical and devastated,'' daughter Trudy said, but
she was ''a very optimistic, joyful, enthusiastic person'' who vowed to
recover.
``One of her favorite expressions was: ```Damn the torpedoes; full speed
ahead!'''
Under the rubble, some orchids had survived. Anita Fennell Andrews,
Thomas III's twin, reopened the attraction in October 1993. It lasted
less than a year.
In June 1994, Trudy and Thomas Jr. hit the Florida lottery with a
quick-pick ticket -- for $6.76 million.
A Miami Herald story at the time said the couple planned to use ``the 20
annual payments of $338,000 -- before taxes -- to travel.''
Thomas Jr. said: ``I don't think we'll change our lifestyle much.''
''We don't need to,'' said Trudy. ``We're happy already.''
They did travel, daughter Trudy said, but they gave much of the money to
charitable causes: overseas missions of the Presbyterian Church, and
organizations that helped children and animals.
Thomas Jr. died in 1998, after which Trudy Fennell occupied herself with
her eight grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and activities at Old
Cutler Presbyterian Church, 14401 Old Cutler Rd., Palmetto Bay, where a
memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. Friday.
--
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