Obituary of Marion Hemphill

Marion Burroughs Hemphill died on September 27, 2010 at Holly Manor Center in Mendham, NJ. Born in 1914 to James Burroughs and Mae Dunn, she grew up in Trumbull, CT. Marion lived in Monroe, Milford, and Mystic in Connecticut; Naples, FL, and Advance, NC before settling in New Jersey. A renowned horticulturalist and flower arranger, Marion lectured and judged throughout the United States and grew magnificent gardens at each of her homes. A master judge of flower arranging, she served on the Federated Garden Club of Connecticut state board in several capacities. She organized the Creative Arrangers of Connecticut and was the featured lecturer at annual garden club meetings in many states. She was a speaker at the Tropical Short Course and the Bob Thomas Seminar. In her later years, she visited twenty six countries in Africa, South America, and Europe as well as forty of the United States. Marion was an award winning painter specializing in ink pouring and watercolors, and served on the Board of Directors of the Naples Art Association. Her first husband, Leslie E. Vaughan, died in 1955, and a later husband, Phillip S. Hemphill, died in 1989. She is survived by a son, James Burroughs Vaughan and his wife Daisy of Terrell, NC, a daughter Elizabeth Vaughan Drake of Mendham, NJ, a grandson, James L. Vaughan and his wife, Jerri Kay of Sherills Ford, NC, two nieces, and two great grandsons. Her sister, Marjorie Teller, of Trumbull, CT died in 2006. A celebration of her life will be held at a future date. Donations in her memory may be sent to the National Audubon Society, 225 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014. Arrangements by the Bailey Funeral Home of Mendham. www.baileyfuneralhomes.com