George Don Talbert was born in Maryland on July 9, 1885.¹ Around 1908, he began working at the White House, recounting: “I started in the [National] Park Service cutting grass, went from there to the greenhouses, and then a man – his name was [Foreman of the White House Grounds Albert] Oliphant – sent for me to come to the White House to look me over. After I had worked for a few days he said I was never going to leave him, and I didn’t.”² Indeed, for the next fifty-three years he worked as a florist and gardener, and his primary duty was arranging florals for both everyday decor and formal White House events. He recalled bottlefeeding the lambs in President Woodrow Wilson’s flock of sheep with his fellow gardeners and bringing First Lady Mamie Eisenhower’s favorite pink sweetheart roses to her bedroom each day.³ In addition, his brother, Burch L. Talbert, worked in the White House greenhouses in the 1930s and 40s. George D. Talbert retired just a few weeks after the Kennedys moved into the White House in 1961; on his last day, he received a handshake and a congratulations from President Kennedy.⁴ Talbert died on August 17, 1964, and is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Maryland.⁵

“George D. Talbert,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141342620/george-d.-talbert; George Don Talbert in the U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War II Draft Cards (Fourth Registration) For the District of Columbia; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147; Box or Roll Number: 067, Ancestry.com.
“For Retiring White House Arranger, Life is a Bowl of Flowers,” Washington Post, February 2, 1961, pg. C19.
“For Retiring White House Arranger, Life is a Bowl of Flowers,” Washington Post, February 2, 1961, pg. C19.
Ibid, Charlotte Curtis, “First Lady Prefers Informal Flower Arrangements,” The Hammond Vindicator, June 15, 1961, pg. 15; “Surprise Party,” Evening Star, July 9, 1948, pg. 22. George D. Talbert in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia; Roll: m-t0627-00568; Page: 24A; Enumeration District: 1-450, Ancestry.com; White House Employees, 1932, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1932, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; Xmas List 1931, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1931, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library; “Burch Latimer Talbert,” Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/4689620/person/102025652993/story?_phsrc=hhV746&_phstart=successSource.
“George D. Talbert,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141342620/george-d.-talbert.

Birthplace

Maryland, USA

Cedar Hill Cemetery

Related Workers: Burch L. Talbert
Gardens, Grounds, and Flower Shop, circa 1931 – 1942; Albert E. Oliphant
Gardens, Grounds, and Flower Shop, 1881 – 1915