What’s in a name?

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

The name of this rose has caused me more pain than I could ever convey.

It has eaten at my soul since I first heard about it in 2017.
When I came to plant a rose garden in memory of Luke, it stared at me from the page of the David Austin catalogue and the gnawing quickened.
’Good For Health’ the banner ironically reads by the name Mortimer Sackler.

The pharma-led opioid crisis, is peculiarly American and most people in the UK have never encountered an OxyContin prescription. At first I wondered “Do they know?”. They knew.

I vowed to step up my 3 year campaign to get David Austin to rename it as a priority for 2022.

But my hope dimmed as I read that, despite all the British media reports about the ill-gotten Sackler billions, Theresa Sackler continues to spray her foundation’s money at fund-starved arts institutions in the UK, in return for naming rights.

The recent victory in the battle of the Met, was giddying.
Over 70 prolific artists signed an open letter to the Met denouncing their ties with the Sackler name for their part in the opioid crisis, and poof!!… the names were gone. The brilliant Nan Goldin lead campaigns that succeeded with so many galleries all over the world but the Met stood firm in their resolve. She started the letter which broke it.

I have no leverage. No Richard Serra, no Ed Ruscha. I can’t go to David Austin’s showrooms and ‘pull a Nan’.

David Austin Roses do not even return my emails or my letters, pleading on behalf of all the Mothers who have lost children, as I have, to opioids, to cease the honor that this rose grants a man who contributed to their children’s deaths.
Finally, after 18 months and a costly FedEx containing copies of all my letters, their advertising manager emailed to apologize, explaining that they had not replied, as they had no update, but he assured me that the Austin family do take the matter very seriously and are 'discussing the most appropriate course of action to take’.
I thanked him by return and requested that I be informed of any progress.
That was in October 2020. I have heard nothing since.
The rose disappeared from the US catalogue but was still on line and still in the UK catalogue.

Then, today I receive a message from England, from the woman that enrobed the house that I built for my family in that rose… “The new DA catalogue arrived today. The rose has been renamed!!”

Shaking, I search the US site and behold, the screen reads
‘We’re sorry, no results found for “Mortimer Sackler.”’
But I am not sorry, I am fucking elated.

I search the UK site and there it is,
same photo,
new name,
Mary Delany.

Mary Delany, English artist known for her botanical 'paper mosaiks', Valued for their scientific accuracy. Mary Delany (née Granville 1700–1788) lived in England and Ireland, the web informs me.

Her work is exquisite.
She was a force.
Now, finally the name befits this beautiful rose.

It’s over. It’s done.
I have no idea whether my campaign contributed to this but it does not matter,
my heart is smiling as tears roll down my cheeks.