Suzanne Wescoat, a member of The Garden Club of the Eastern Shore since 1974, was awarded the De Lacy Gray Medal for Conservation during the awards banquet of the Garden Club of Virginia’s Annual Meeting in Virginia Beach. Attending the award ceremony were her family members and loyal friends from her club.
Suzanne has dedicated her life to preserving and protecting the Eastern Shore’s natural resources, including its beautiful coastlines, fragile ecosystem and traditional, rural economy. Her involvement began in 1988 in response to real estate developers from outside the region buying up waterfront farms. Suzanne led residents of Northampton County, the southern half of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, to address concerns about their community’s future. Her campaign led to the formation of a non-profit organization entitled Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore (CBES), and Suzanne served tirelessly as its first president.
With her inspiration, CBES currently represents Virginia’s entire Eastern Shore with over 800 members and manages working partnerships with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, The Working Waterman’s Association and the National Association of Colored People. The work of two of its committees became so significant that they were spun-off in the 1990s to become separate organizations, each receiving national recognition and funding through grants for community and sustainable development.
Suzanne also received national recognition in 1996 when The Nature Conservancy presented her with its highest conservation honor, the Oak Leaf Award.
Her leadership continued through her election and twelve-year service to the Northampton County Board of Supervisors, where fellow Supervisors appointed her as their Chairman. In this position, she served as an advocate for responsible residential and commercial development. According to colleague, Supervisor Richard B. Tankard, “She began her tenure as the lone voice for conservation. Her consensus building talents changed how Northampton County viewed conservation.” To the Board of Supervisors’ long-range plan, Suzanne included conservation easements to support marine habitat and agriculture, as well as adopting the Chesapeake Bay Act for both bay and ocean sides of the Eastern Shore’s narrow peninsula. Suzanne was instrumental in the Board of Supervisors’ adoption of Land Use Taxation and Agricultural/Forrestal Districts. These districts help preserve farms and forests by giving property owners a tax incentive if their land does not change its usage for ten years. Finally, she secured a grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation to establish the Eastern Shore Heritage Trail.
Suzanne’s inspired leadership truly exemplifies the spirit of the De Lacy Gray Award. Her dedication to conservation offers GCV members throughout Virginia a most valuable role model as we pursue GCV’s vision of celebrating the beauty of the land, conserving the gifts of nature and challenging future generations to build on this heritage. Thank you, Suzanne!
