By Dan Murphy
China Altman, founder of the Rose Brigade (at right), with Henry Lee,
late president emeritus of the Friends of the Public Garden, inside the
Public Garden.
China Altman, a longtime Back Village resident who died Feb. 2 at age 93 in hospice care at Massachusetts General Hospital, could never have imagined the Rose Brigade she established nearly four decades ago to tend to the rose beds in the Public Garden would grow into what is reportedly the longest, sustained volunteer group operating in the city.
“It has seemed to me that the people who have come and gone over the years – we have about 250 alums – fell out of the sky,” said Ms. Altman at a 2017 ceremony in the Public Garden honoring her and the group. “I feel astonishment and love in my heart when I think about all of them and all of you who make up the Rose Brigade now.”
Upon that occasion, the Friends of the Public Garden commissioned a hybrid rose named the ‘China Altman’ and officially dedicated it in her honor
Born Mary Helen Altman on Dec. 20, 1932, Ms. Altman, grew up in Waycross, Ga., as the second of five siblings.
Ms. Altman, who outlived all her siblings, told The Boston Globe in 1974, she adopted the name ‘China,’ after leaving college as “part of [her] youthful rebellion.”
She relocated to Boston in the late 1950s to work for the wire service office for United Press PH (later United Press International).
Credited for being the first female radio talk-show host in Boston, Ms. Altman later moderated her award-winning ‘Generation’ talk show on WRKO-AM and WROR-FM. She also wrote for Life and People magazines, among other publications, during her illustrious career in journalism.
In 1988, Ms. Altman founded the Rose Brigade, which is sponsored by the Friends of the Public Garden and works in collaboration with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. The group cares for the park’s four rose beds that span 4,150 square feet and consist of around 280 bushes from mid-March through early December and every Tuesday during the summer months.
“China showed us that beauty thrives when people care enough to show up, rain or shine, season after season,” said Liza Meyer, president of the Friends group, in a statement. “Through every volunteer she inspired and every rose she lovingly tended, she reminded us that community is built one moment at a time. As we mourn her loss and celebrate her life, we will honor her legacy through the continued work of the Rose Brigade and by creating opportunities for people to feel more connected to their parks and to one another.”
Ms. Altman admitted she knew nothing about roses at the time of the Brigade’s inception but soon began to become more knowledgeable after spending countless hours exploring the subject at the Copley Branch of the Boston Public Library.
“I loved doing the research – I am a nerd — and I even wrote myself a report on how to do it,” Ms. Altman told this reporter in 2017. “And of course, my research has continued all these years, from many sources, and most of all from the roses themselves.”