Rader helps at museum and directs community garden
BELLA VISTA — Angela Rader, who’s involved with the Bella Vista museum and the Mercy community garden in addition to working at the Pea Ridge Mercy clinic, has been visiting the community since childhood and moved to the area in the late ’90s.
Rader explained that her family lived in Kansas but, after visiting Bella Vista in 1967, her father fell in love and immediately bought a lot. The family visited regularly as she grew up, Rader explained.
In the 1980s her parents retired in Bella Vista and her own husband fell in love when they helped with the move. Then in 1998, they moved here themselves.
“I love Bella Vista and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else,” she said.
She was a stay-at-home mother for some time, Rader explained, and over the years she ended up working at a handful of smaller local pharmacies, most recently at Cornerstone.
She also worked at Mercy hospital at the same time, meaning she had a fairly full week — three 12-hour days at the hospital and the rest of the week at the pharmacy while serving as the children’s director at her church, she explained.
While it certainly kept her busy, she said, she loved working with patients — often seeing the same ones at both jobs.
“That’s what I love about Bella Vista, you know your patients … you know about their families and lives,” she explained.
She also volunteers as a docent at the Bella Vista Historical Museum, she explained.
“I love the history of Bella Vista, never thought I would be a big part of it,” Rader said. “I never realized there was so much history before the Cooper times.”
Over the past century and some change, she said, the city’s grown tremendously and it’s been fascinating to learn about its history, including the Keith and Linebarger eras before the more recent and ongoing Cooper era.
When the community garden was started, Rader said she helped out and, after a vacancy formed, she agreed to be the garden’s director.
As a kid, Rader said she hated gardening, but that’s changed.
“I love it now,” she said. “I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”
There are about ten regular volunteers helping with the project, she said, and Mercy is a sponsor and has helped the garden get a grant from Miracle-Gro to provide mulch and soil.
This year, the garden will have a handful of community beds, where anyone can show up and work to help plants grow.
Once the fruits and veggies are ready, they’ll be put out on a shelf for anyone who needs them.
Additionally, she said, there will be beds individuals can adopt.
Rader said anyone who would like to volunteer or inquire about the garden can call her at 479-6160575.
With winter on its way out, she said, the garden season isn’t too far off.
“We’ve just ordered our seeds and are getting ready for the spring,” she said.