Brewton resident and botanist dies Monday leaving plants behind
Searcy spent life loving plants
Botanist and Brewton resident Darryl Searcy, 86, died Monday, Aug. 8, leaving a legacy to enjoying the outdoors and knowing almost every plant and flower by name.
Searcy moved to Brewton in 1978 and officially retired in 1986 but he kept his fingers and eyes in the dirt in and around Brewton.
It began with the Brewton Tree and Beautification Board asking him to select plants for Jennings Park. He also worked with Shirley West, the first director of Turtle Point Environmental Center in Flomaton, to not only pick plants along the boardwalk leading the Big Escambia Creek but to identify the many natural plants already there.
Searcy was named one of Southwest Alabama's regional 'Hospital Heroes' for his work as a ground consultant for D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital in Brewton where he helped establish a court yard full of native plants and flowers.
Searcy also did work to help correctly label plants, flowers and trees at the E.O. Wilson Park in Brewton.
Wilson has been writing a column about the Escambia County Historical Society that appears in the Tri-City Ledger. This week's column is on Page 6. Wilson also sent the Ledger five more columns prior to his death, which will also be published.
Williams Memorial Funeral Home is handling arrangements. No arrangements had been made as of press time Wednesday.
