The Pillsbury Family
From Pillsbury Grange in Derbyshire, to the Colonies, to California and beyond
Alice Elizabeth Gripp
Alice was the first grandchild born to any of the children of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur F. Pillsbury so naturally she received enormous attention from all of us. Her first outing with her Grandma, Mary Alice Reasoner Pillsbury, and Grandpa Arthur, was to the International House of Pancakes, which was on Sepulveda Blvd, not far from our home on Colby Avenue.
I'm not going to tell you Alice's behavior was perfect, but after all she was only a month old.
Anne, naturally, doted on her entirely and we heard frequent reports on her progress as she passed through the stages of babyhood into being a little girl. Being an only child suited Alice so it was with some curiosity all of us waited to see what would happen when Anne became pregnant with her second child at the same time I was having my first. The less said about Carolyn Ann, the better.
Parry appeared only a few weeks after I gave birth to Carolyn, now Morgan, in the summer of 1967.
Alice was delighted to pass the crib on to her brother and began making plans for the rest of her life which she wanted to spend as a geologist studying volcanoes. However, this means getting a teaching job unless you want to work for an oil company, which Alice adamantly, did not, to her credit.
So today she grows orchids which are very different than volcanoes but safer to have in close proximity.
While actively pursuing her career Alice naturally wrote papers and as a person of the Orchid kind, also has things to say about orchids.
Alice Elizabeth Gripp
Papers Published
Clifford H. Thurber, Alice E. Gripp
Article first published online: 20 SEP 2012 | DOI: 10.1029/JB093iB05p04271
Abstract / PDF(699K) / References
1990 study “Current Plate Velocities Relative to the Hotspots Incorporating the NUVEL-1 Global Plate Motion Model,” co-authored with Rice geophysicist Richard Gordon.
Other Mentions
December 30, 1994
A weekly feature provided by scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Life in the Orchid Trade
2014
by Leslie Dinaberg on March 14, 2014
Orchid Shows in Southern California
2010
(page 2 0f 2)
Andres Garcia oversees five changeovers a year at the hotel's famed garden.
September 26, 2010|By Richard Abowitz, Special to the Los Angeles Times
So he keeps looking for new opportunities. One example in the new show came from a flier Garcia saw by chance for an orchid convention in California. There he discovered Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, whose samples impressed him enough that he went to visit. Alice Gripp, one of the owners, recalls her surprise at getting a call from the Bellagio's director of horticulture. "We didn't know they had plants in Las Vegas. But he walked around our nursery and he was really pleased." Garcia has dedicated a greenhouse to display 100 varieties of their orchids in the new show. "They are so lovely; people are going to be excited to see them," he says.
By Friday night, Sept. 17, everything is ready, a day early, and the ropes are removed. The public is allowed in to admire the "fantasy" trees, gigantic pumpkins, 9,500 flowers and the special collection of orchids. MORE
2007
THE CALIFORNIA GARDEN
Santa Barbara's international orchid show is this weekend, but there's another draw: the nurseries where the exotic blooms are born.
March 15, 2007|Lili Singer | Special to The Times
".....Alice Gripp, now co-owner with brother Parry, is partial to Laelia anceps, an easy-to-grow, cold-tolerant species native to Mexico with star-shaped flowers in white, lavender or blue.
She also likes oddballs such as frog orchids, pointing to one with pale flowers like "little hand puppets." Another favorite: Epidendrum propinquun, a compact grower with arching sprays of spidery half-inch-wide green and brown flowers.
"There's an orchid for every person, and a person for every orchid," she says, comparing the nursery to a dating service: It matches customer with plant based on their mutual preferences and needs."
Santa Barbara Orchid Estate
Located on five acres of beautiful coastal Santa Barbara, the orchid estate is just 500 feet from the Pacific Ocean. Founded by Robert J. Chrisman, a legendary orchid grower, and now owned by Parry and Alice Gripp, the estate is one of the world’s foremost collectors and propagators of orchid species and hybrids, specializing in outdoor temperature-tolerant varieties. Open 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Monday–Saturday and 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Sundays. 1250 Orchid Dr., Santa Barbara. 805/967-1284, sborchid.com.
