I still cringe when I think about the first time I met Ben. It was my first Regional Convention and I was very new to iris. Ben's iris "Beverly Sills" was very big and had a lot of buzz. I was looking at a very pretty pink iris and said to the older gentleman (in a pith helmet) next to me that I thought it was 'at least as good as "Beverly Sills".' He just shook his head and said "Faint praise, indeed." It was later that I learned that Ben wore that helmet whenever he was out in the iris fields. Open mouth, insert foot.
He was indeed a gentleman and one heck of a hybridizer.
