Reaping Nature EOF

Mary Nix

C0-Founder / Board Member

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Born in Riverside, California in 1960, Mary Nix had three passions engrained into her – music, teaching and performing. Her desire to teach first emerged in kindergarten, where her teacher once remarked: “Mary is a lovely child, but she’s the first student I’ve ever had who tried to tell me how to run my class.”

Mary further honed her music and performance skills by singing into her hairbrush and forcing other children to play-act movie scenes or watch her perform self-written skits. Over the years, she began to involve herself in theater, church drama troops, chorus, praise teams, children’s music programs, community playhouses, and indentured servitude in the Forsyth County Public School System.

But it was in 2003 that she came up with a backwoods, good-hearted but rather dense character named Petunia Garner. Petunia was initially created to promote the Reflections Program at Daves Creek Elementary School, but she was asked to reprise the character regularly for other program promotions. In 2006, Keep Forsyth County Beautiful asked Daves Creek to create a video for their “Drink It Then Sink It” lunchroom recycling program, and Petunia was a part of that venture. As KFCB entered other schools with this new program, they asked Petunia to come along and help to promote it with a related theme song that she wrote. It was at this time that Mary became more convinced that stewardship in each facet life, including the environment, was something to sing about.

Meanwhile, still connected to Daves Creek, she began to work with Denise Carleton, who chaired the Environmental Education Committee at the school. After successfully presenting back-to-back America Recycles Day programs, Mary’s best friend, Carolyn Caldwell, suggested that she and Denise consider providing environmental education programs for other schools. It is through their partnership that Mary has finally brought her three passions together…music, teaching and performing.

Mary has served as a substitute teacher in the Forsyth County School System fromk 2000 to 2011. She is the proud mother of two amazing children, Stephen and Laura. Her first original music CD, Petunia’s Singalongable Songs, contains several songs with an environmental emphasis. Mary's songs, which she wrote and performed, are catchy, fun and memorable.

Mary has received many awards for her work in the community, including: 2000 Daves Creek Elementary School Volunteer of the Year; 2006 Keep Forsyth County Beautiful Junior Volunteer of the Year; 2007 Keep Forsyth County Beautiful Visionary Award; and 2008 Forsyth County Schools Volunteer of the Year.