Carrie Karegeannes retired as the American Begonia Society's Nomenclature Director and was moving on to other activities in her life. She had researched and studied begonias for years and had established quite a reputation for herself and her study. Carrie wanted her years of research material to be safe, treasured and the work continued. She knew that institutions were often at the whim of their directors or funding and the materials could suddenly be discarded. Her long time friend and research companion, Thelma O'Reilly suggested that perhaps I, Michael Ludwig, would be a good choice to use and safeguard her materials. I'd been in the ABS for about 25 years, enjoyed growing, and the study and research of begonias and still had a few years to continue the work.
In the spring of 2002, I received a letter that changed my life. Carrie had chosen me to receive her life work. After accepting her offer, I would arrive home after work to find a stack of boxes, full of treasures sitting at my door, delivered from the other side of the country. This continued for months and it was like Christmas as I opened each box, dozens of them, and reviewed the amazing world they contained. All the material was neatly and carefully packed. The material was separated according to its form; file folders, cards, herbarium specimens, books, slides and each were alphabetized. I was amazed at the history and the people involved in this study and correspondence. Begonia researchers from around the world, names I'd seen and read about for years. My father died Sept of 2002 and I would lose myself in this "Begonia World" keeping me from becoming depressed. It also helped when Begonia mentors and dear friends Bob Ammerman, November 2003; Margaret (Marge) Lee, January 2004 and Mabel Corwin, May 2004 each passed away. Paul and Ann Lee, Marge Lee's family, passed her begonia treasures onto me, which I added to this growing world.
I'd talked to Rudolf Ziesenhenne about my activities during my visits to Santa Barbara and his nursery. During a visit In the spring of 2005, he was joking about needing a semi-truck to take all his research materials out of the house when he died. He then took me upstairs in his home to a room full of cabinets, shelves, papers and desk; he pointed to two floor - to- ceiling bookcases and said that I might as well start now! I went into shock. I filled my van that day with his notebooks and books that filled those shelves. Many of them were falling apart from age. I took them home and put them in new binders to preserve these, new to me treasures. Rudy passed away in October 2005. Since his death, his sons, Skee and Fred, continued with his vision and I've made many trips to Santa Barbara in 2006 and 2007 to pick up more of Rudy's life work and add it to this ever enriching world.
I had a vision of a wonderful place in which I could share this fascinating world, so in the fall of 2005 I started remodeling the back 24' x 16' section of my garage. On January 28, 2006, I opened the KOLZ Begonia Research Center (Karegeannes; O'Reilly; Ludwig, Lee; Ziesenhenne) to the Margaret Lee Branch of the American Begonia Society and offered it as their unofficial home. They were amazed and thrilled to explore what KOLZ had to offer. Later that day it also hosted the Mabel Corwin Branch's officers meeting. What a Grand Opening! KOLZ continues to host the Marge Lee Branch for meetings. Besides the research material, KOLZ also contains scrapbooks from the Rudolf Ziesenhenne/Santa Barbara Branch; Margaret Lee Branch history; Margaret Lee and Rudolf Ziesenhenne trophies and awards and the library for the Mabel Corwin Branch.
KOLZ Begonia Research Center continues to evolve and grow with material donations. Thelma O'Reilly, a life long mentor, continues to share and donate her material to me and the Center. Other begonia lovers are leaving their collections to this valuable resource. At the February 2007 meeting of the Margaret Lee Branch, they voted to help me with this project and made a donation to KOLZ to help continue its mission. In September 2007, I gave a seminar at the American Begonia Society's National Convention, on KOLZ, which was well received by that late night audience. This led to donations by the Santa Clara Valley and Sacramento Branches.
I have many dreams and visions for this priceless resource and expect others to suggest and help me with projects. The KOLZ Center is available for visits and use by others. I am inventorying this wealth of materials of several lifetimes into a database. I plan to offer seminars and study/research conferences both at KOLZ Center and off site. I continue to gather and receive materials, try to complete newsletter collections and other historical literature and make more herbarium specimens. The ongoing mission of the KOLZ Begonia Research Center is to preserve the materials that are currently in the collection and make it available to others.
