Teen's Scout project in mom's memory

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - A breeze rustles the blue long-sleeved blouse on the well-dressed scarecrow Patsy DeLacey and her mother crafted together years ago.

Cucumbers, zucchini and hearty eggplant abound. A row of Silver Queen corn shows promise; the okra could use some help.

Ginger DeLacey isn't here to see any of it. She won't see 16-year-old Patsy graduate from Western Branch High School in two years. Nor will she be there to watch her daughter receive the Girl Scout Gold Award -- the equivalent of the Boy Scouts' Eagle.

Ginger DeLacey killed herself on March 9. She was 51.

"She'd be proud. Very proud," assured Bill DeLacey, Patsy's father. "Part of the sorrow of missing her is she can't be here for this. It's final. Everything stopped on March 9."

Patsy's garden behind St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Portsmouth is dedicated to her mother, who often spent time with her irises and daffodils in the family's Brittany Woods back yard. Patsy will give all of her fresh produce to the Foodbank of South Hampton Roads, Ginger's pet charity. All of the labor that has gone into what started as untilled land will earn Patsy the Gold Award, likely by fall.

Ginger DeLacey helped her daughter get started last winter.

"She gave me the name, Green Garden for the Hungry," Patsy said.

Ginger DeLacey suffered from depression. Patsy and her father will talk about what happened, largely to explain a disease they say is misunderstood.

"It's easy to say somebody died of cancer because you can see it," said Bill DeLacey, a cardiologist at Suffolk's Lakeview Medical Center. "Her depression was bad enough that you could see it if you knew her. The end result is still the same. There is a stigma because it's something people can't see. They can't get their arms around depression."

Patsy and her father watched the constant sadness grip the once vibrant Ginger DeLacey last summer. Ginger was a Duke University graduate and history professor, but by fall she stopped working. By Christmas, despite aggressive treatment, the depression grew worse.

"My dad and I watched her slip away," Patsy said softly. "We tried our best. We took her to different doctors and supported her as best we could. It just didn't work."

"She was the smartest woman I knew, my best friend," Bill DeLacey said.

Patsy is the youngest of three children -- her sister Ginny just completed her freshman year at Wake Forest and brother John Patrick works in construction management in Charlottesville.

Patsy describes a doting mother who introduced her to reading first with Dr. Seuss and later with Harry Potter. Ginger encouraged Patsy in piano and passed on a passion for scouting. Ginger, herself a former Scout, was the co-leader of Patsy's troop since Daisies.

Ginger drove Patsy to school March 9. "It was like a normal day," Patsy said. "She told me she loved me -- like always."

Later that afternoon Patsy was at tennis practice when her father drove up. After she got into the car, he pulled to the side of the road and told her the news.

Much of it is a blur after that. The house was suddenly full of people. Patsy used her bedroom as a retreat, with her longtime friends from Scouts at her side.

Patsy didn't allow herself to be angry at her mother but "I was angry at the depression and what it did to her," she said.

Few have questioned her about it -- she says she can tell the subject makes people uncomfortable. She and her dad don't mind sharing, and he regards Patsy as his most mature child for all she has handled. Patsy's 4.15 grade-point average ranks her second in the Class of 2011. Last week she took the SAT.

Tennis and running relieve stress. She has taught herself to find outlets.

The garden, a place where she never wears gloves, is a welcome refuge after a hectic week.

"I didn't know eggplant were so stubborn," Patsy said, pulling one from a stubborn vine Sunday. "Lots of stuff to pick."

The Gold Award calls for Patsy to put in 65 hours. Her first load of produce went to the Foodbank on Thursday, and a second one is scheduled for this week. She will make trips there all summer with more vegetables.

Because they have had to, Patsy and her dad say they have moved forward. They will never move on.

"One day at a time," Bill DeLacey said. "You deal with it one holiday at a time."

Patsy has learned that's the only way to keep going "She never saw any of this," Patsy said next to her harvested pile. "She would like it though. She'd be proud."

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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://www.pilotonline.com