On Memorial Day this month, an 81-year-old UGA graduate will be passing out silk red poppies in honor of Americans who have died serving their country.
Aurelia Dunstan Wallace ‘45, ‘46 will carry on the tradition begun while a student at UGA in 1942 when she was selected to accompany Miss Moina Michael, one of her professors known as the “Poppy Lady.” Miss Michael was the originator of the poppy tradition in 1919 when she made red silk poppies and passed them out in remembrance of her fiancé who made the ultimate sacrifice. The first poppies were fashioned from the gown she had planned to wear when welcoming home her future husband. He was killed in France four hours before armistice was signed in 1918.
Poppy Day has become a worldwide tradition that remembers fallen soldiers. Donations collected from the poppies originally benefited the deceased servicemen’s families. Today the project is sponsored by more than a dozen Veterans organizations internationally. The poppies are given out on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day.
Aurelia, also known as Chick, settled in Gainesville, Fla. where her husband was Dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of Florida. After he died, she married her childhood sweetheart whom she had not seen for 65 years. Her husband, Col. (ret. USAF) Phillip Newton, shares her enthusiasm for her busy life.
Wallace is a poet memoirist, biographer and workshop leader. She is the author of 14 books. Her first writing was published when she was seven years old. At age 15, she won the International Quill and Scroll Journalism Scholarship and later continued her study at the University of Georgia where she received her ABJ in ‘45 and her Master’s in 1946.
She speaks often at civic clubs, conventions and other occasions telling the story of her former teacher Moina Michael. Miss Michael was inspired to fashion her poppies by the immortal poem “In Flander’s Fields” by Colonel John McCrae. After the war, the Belgium countryside that had been plowed up by tanks, fighting and bombs sprouted millions of lilies that burst into scarlet red.
Aurelia through the years has given poetry readings from Boston to San Francisco and taught poetry at three state universities. In addition, she pioneered a new writing genre, Writing for Healing (bibliotherapy), which is now a standard psychotherapy technique. Along with her new husband, she is an active member of the VFW, American Legion, Combat Airmen of World War II, the DAV, Marine Corps League, Decrepit Birdmen, and the 99th Bomb group.
Poppy Day should be especially significant for all UGA alumni since the “Poppy Lady” was one of us. Aurelia encourages us all to buy a remembrance poppy this Memorial Day. The red silk poppy is the universal symbol of tribute to all veterans of all wars.
