Arizona Pioneers Home – Prescott, AZ
Spearheaded the campaign to update the garden, raise funds, and help coordinate the completed design.
In the classic children’s novel, “The Secret Garden,” published in 1911 by English author Frances Hodgson Burnett, orphan Mary is sent to live with an uncle in Yorkshire.
Mysteries unfold as the 10-year-old discovers a cousin that is isolated because he is supposedly crippled and, most of all, a secret garden that her grieving uncle had locked up when his wife died.
Mary finds the buried key to the garden, and with the help of another of the novel’s characters, she brings the garden back to its original splendor.
Such a rebirth is in the works at the Arizona Pioneers Home, thanks to a modern-day Mary, whose name is Cindy Brower, and community volunteers who are donating labor to restore the home’s neglected garden, which will be called “The Secret Garden.”
The Arizona Pioneers Home has been a stately part of Prescott since the early 1900s. Three prominent Prescott citizens – A.J. Doran, Frank M. Murphy and Johnny Duke – wanted to repay the long-time Arizona residents who helped build the state. Their idea was to build a home where these pioneers could comfortably retire. Doran sponsored a bill to create the home in Arizona’s Territorial Legislature in 1907 but it failed. Two years later, both houses of the Legislature approved it, and Territorial Gov. Joseph H. Kibbey signed it into law on March 11, 1909.
Murphy and T.G. Norris both donated land for the home, which was designed by Prescott architect W.S. Elliott. The $25,000 structure opened its doors on Feb. 1, 1911.
In the beginning, the home housed 40 men, but in 1916 another benevolent donor, W.S. Parsons, came forward and gave enough money to build a wing for women. And, in 1929, the home was enlarged again to include a hospital for disabled miners.
Today, the Arizona Pioneers Home cares for 150 residents and survives on appropriations through various state funds. Residents pay a portion of the care, based on their incomes.
As we reflect on the history of the Arizona Pioneers Home, it is obvious that generous benefactors have played a great part in providing for our elderly citizens.
The Secret Garden is another example of giving hearts. Prescott Mayor Marlin Kuykendall put his support behind it by enlisting people willing to help the cause. Frank Abbott of CareScape, Mike Fann of Fann Contracting, and Marc and Ryan Fornara of The Ironworker are all participating in the project by volunteering labor. An anonymous donor has already set up a grant that will match dollar-for-dollar donation up to $2,500.
Those in the community who want to contribute may send checks to the Arizona Pioneers Home, 300 S. McCormick, Prescott 86301, attention Ted Thurman. Checks should be made out to APH-Special Donations, with “Secret Garden” in the memo line.
With community support to pay for materials, residents of the Arizona Pioneers Home can hopefully look forward to enjoying a garden that has been rejuvenated to resplendence.
They have earned their place in the sun, surrounded by new life.
