Robert Manchester ""Bob"" Boddy

Robert Manchester (Bob) Boddy, rhododendron grower and longtime coast resident, passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 in Tustin, Calif., with his daughter, Carol, at his side. He was 94 years old.
He was born on Nov. 1, 1919, in New York City, to Elias Manchester and Berenice (Klotz) Boddy. As an infant, he traveled by train with his parents to Los Angeles, where his father became editor and publisher of the Los Angeles Daily News and built the famous Descanso Gardens in La Canada. His father ran for California Senator in 1950, but was defeated by Helen Gahagan Douglas in the primaries. Douglas was later defeated by Richard Nixon.
Bob and his younger brother, Calvin, grew up in rural Alta Canyada, and both attended the Army and Navy Academy in Pacific Beach during their high school years. Bob went on to attend Pomona College, graduating in 1941, where he met his future wife, Mildred LeFevre Scott. Bob and Mildred were married in 1942 in Sequim, Wash., while Bob was an Army Lieutenant training at Fort Lewis.
Bob and Mildred were married for 58 years, until Mildred's death in 2000. They raised three children: Susan Boddy lives in Willits, Chet Boddy lives in Little River, and Carol Mitchell lives with her husband, Frank Spurny, in Orange, Calif. Bob has two granddaughters, Robin Plies and Dana Boddy, and a grandson, Tyler Boddy, all living in Portland. He has two great-grandsons, Gabriel Plies and Cameron Plies. Suzanne Boddy, his former daughter-in-law, lives in Little River.
Bob served in the Third Infantry Division from 1941 to 1946, receiving a field promotion to Captain and becoming a Company Commander. The Third Division made amphibious landings in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. His battalion received a Presidential Unit Citation for action at Mount Rotundo during the Monte Cassino campaign, and his company received a Presidential Unit Citation for action at Anzio. Bob was awarded the Silver Star, Legion of Merit and Bronze Star.
After leaving the military, Bob started a wholesale nursery business called Descanso Nurseries, named after his father's Southern California gardens. He had nurseries in San Gabriel, Chino and Alta Loma, where he grew roses, azaleas and other ornamental plants. In 1953, Bob and Mildred purchased 110 acres on Hanson Road south of Fort Bragg where Bob began growing rhododendrons, and where the family spent many summers. Bob and Mildred moved permanently from Southern California to Fort Bragg in 1970. Bob operated Descanso Nurseries in Fort Bragg until he retired in 2011, at age 91. He was in the nursery business for 65 years.
Bob was one of the first to figure out how to grow rhododendrons in containers using lightweight soil mixes. The plants were traditionally grown in the field, then dug up and wrapped in burlap for sale. He was also a pioneer in rooting rhododendrons from cuttings using mist propagation. Rhododen-drons were thought to be impossible to root and had to be reproduced by grafting. He later became interested in heathers, and introduced many new varieties to Northern California landscapes.
He served as a chapter president for the California Association of Nurserymen, Western Regional President for the International Plant Propagators Society and served on the first board of directors for the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. He gave hundreds of rhododendrons to Ernest and Betty Schoefer to plant while they were developing the Botanical Gardens in the 1960s, and has donated plants to countless organizations on the Mendocino Coast.
Bob had a keen eye for promising new plants. He spent years selecting 20 of the best rhododendrons for commercial production from the thousands that local resident, Dr. Leonard Charvet, hybridized. One of these, the yellow-flowered General Braxton Bragg, was introduced at the 29th annual John Druecker Memorial Rhododendron Show in 2006.
Bob was active in the Noyo Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society, the North American Heather Society and the Mendocino Coast Model Railroad and Historical Society.
There will be a private family service. Donations in Bob Boddy's memory can be given to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.